


Taming Your Demon: For Dummies

by OnionBooks



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: A lot of violence and magic, Alternate Universe - Magic, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups is Whipped, Demon Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Demonology, Demons, Hate to Love, Jeonghan is along for the ride and to provide snacks, M/M, Minor Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Lee Seokmin | DK, Slow Burn, Some other side relationships but theyre not too important, Supernatural Elements, black magic, did I mention the burn is slow?, lee jihoon is an angry boi, this story is gonna be long as heck just be prepared
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-18 16:58:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15490485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnionBooks/pseuds/OnionBooks
Summary: After a mix-up of textbooks with a sketchy kid at school, Seungcheol finds himself in the midst of summoning a demon from hell in the middle of his basement, rather than coercing a feather to float like his homework had intended.His futile attempts to live a simple, quiet life are shattered the moment the demon appears... Short stature, pink hair, and all. Now, Seungcheol's stuck desperately hiding his little secret from his friends, family, and the cops; In fear of a lifetime in jail, and an eternity of hell.There was a bigger problem though... The demon? He's irritatingly cute.





	1. Summoning Your Demon

**Author's Note:**

> Choi Seungcheol, didn't your mama ever tell you not to use black magic?  
> This is being cross-posted from AFF! I've already posted 23 chapters there, and it's still on-going, so I'll be slowly adding them here over the next couple days :)

 

“For homework tonight, please take a look at page 96 of your textbook, and practice the levitation spell on something light. I suggest using a feather, or a sheet of parchment. If you do not find the instructions clear, let me know before you leave. Class is dismissed.”

Seungcheol stretched his arms out where he sat, yawning loudly. Spell class was always boring, he had discovered. Especially spell class with Mr. Lee, who had the amazing talent of turning a three hour lecture into what felt like an eternity. He stood up from his desk and gathered his things, thankful that he could finally go home for the day. He spun around with his eyes half closed, yelping when he found himself colliding with another body. The person had been blocking the path to freedom where Seungcheol had been headed, causing the both of them to topple to the ground; papers and textbooks scattering around them.

“Shit, sorry dude.” Seungcheol quickly sat up to gather his things off the floor, his hands freezing when he realized just who he had just shoved to the ground. The boy averted his eyes, his dark hair shadowing his face. A chill went down Seungcheol’s spine when his mouth stretched into his trademark grin, which was rumored to inflict a curse upon anyone that looked too long.

He was fucking creepy, and Seungcheol didn't really feel like finding out if the rumor was true.

 He quickly picked up the rest of his things, before speed-walking away like his life depended on it (and it probably did.) He was apparently too busy trying to get to a safe distance, to hear the boy call after him.

Seungcheol made his way out of the front doors; looking up at the sign outside, which displayed their school name proudly.

Pledis academy was a university for students that excelled in magic, or possessed immense natural ability. Technically, you can also get in if your parents are loaded, but Seungcheol generally tried to stay away from those kinds of students. They were all snobby, and lived off their parent’s name and money to stay ahead. He supposed he wasn’t that different from those kinds of students, thought, since they both got in through unfair advantages.

Seungcheol wasn’t necessary great at magic, but he wasn’t bad either. If he tried harder, he would probably excel in it; he was born with a shitload of natural talent, after all. Generally, he just wasn’t that interested in the trade. His parents were both prestigious magical users, they helped the army, trained the people that protected the president, shit like that. Ever since Seungcheol had been born, his parents had sensed the potential within him, and had therefore begun to push him into becoming a magic user before he had even learned to walk. At first, he had taken a liking to it. The beginner stuff like moving pencils with you mind, changing the color of your eyes, making fish glow, it was honestly fun stuff. Then came grade school (Homework, memorizing long incantations, learning Latin) Seungcheol quickly realized the whole wizard thing just wasn’t for him. He much preferred to write rap lyrics, or play sports with his non-magical friends.

Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Choi were stubborn people. “You need to carry on the family name!” and “Are you having trouble? We’ll buy you a tutor!” or “Don’t waste the potential you were born with!” He'd heard it all a million times over, and he was tired of it. Seungcheol didn’t like magic, and he’d rather go to hell than pursue a career in it. Needless to say, he was quick to rebel as a kid. He thought ‘If they won’t let me do what I want, I _will_ do what theywant, just a little differently.’ If his parents were so set on him practicing his magic that’s just what he was going to do.

He had learned plenty of tricks from his nagging parents, so he went out with a mindset to wreak havoc. Maybe after destroying the mayor’s house with some enchanted paint and writing some unholy messages for them, his parents would be able to see that magic wasn’t his forte.

~

 Seungcheol whispered under his breath, until the paperclip in his hand melded into the specific shapes of a key, which fit perfectly into the lock on the back gate. Of course, anyone could visit the mayor if they wanted to, but he’d rather not announce his presence just yet. He slowly opened the entrance, cringing as the metal joints began to screech. He took a tentative look around, ensuring there were no guards patrolling nearby (there was no one to be seen, to his surprise.) He peaked around in every direction before grabbing his white paint bucket and sneaking around the tall bushes towards the front of the house.

“Seungcheol?” He jumped, turning towards the familiar voice of his mother, who was eyeing him with a confused expression. Next to her was his father, the mayor, and what seemed to be the rest of the goddamn town. All of them watching him through eyes filled with fear. Seungcheol set the bucket down beside him and pushed it into a bush with his foot, hoping nobody noticed it.

“What’s… going on?” A crowd of people were lined up behind yellow caution tape, their eyes wide as they stared at Seungcheol, who was standing stalk still in front of a sea of gazes and news cameras, though most eyes were still trained on a spot above him. Obviously they probably weren’t there for his rebellious paint vandalism, so what the hell was going on?

The entire crowd went into hysteria in an instant, screaming in fear. Some even started to rush forward in panic. Seungcheol whipped his head up to see what all the commotion was about, only to see a figure falling towards him at an alarming speed.

Seungcheol didn’t even think before he acted. He began to yell an incantation at an impressive speed, before throwing his hands in the air, where a wave of magical energy began to surge out from his palms heavily. The falling body slowed to a less death-inducing speed, and when it was close enough to the ground, Seungcheol let off the spell, allowing them to fall comfortably into his arms.

He breathed in heavily, catching his breath. Using such an intermediate spell so suddenly winded him pretty badly, though he was glad he had done it. The person, (Seungcheol soon realized as he stared shocked into the girls face,) was none other than the mayor’s ten year old daughter. Her eyes were closed (she had probably passed out from the shock,) and she was breathing steadily within his arms.

He jumped in shock when the crowd before him began to cheer loudly, running towards Seungcheol in celebration. The mayor took his daughter from his arms and hugged her, thanking Seungcheol profusely as him and his wife fussed over the well-being of their child. Camera crews and reporters approached next, shoving microphones into his face and asking more questions than Seungcheol knew the answers to.

“You just saved the mayors daughter, how do you feel?”

“What’s your name?”

“You’re a hero boy, how old are you?”

Seungcheol felt dizzy. The mayor’s guards started to block the paparazzi away from Seungcheol’s breathing space, as his parents started to guide him into the mayor’s mansion. The yelling around him began to sound fuzzy, his vision going dark. When he passed out, he couldn’t tell whether or not it was from using that spell.

After all that, Seungcheol’s plan caused the opposite effect he had wanted. His parents were ecstatic to see that he could use a spell that was far advanced for his age, and the mayor praised him for saving his daughter. Apparently his parents had shown up to save the day, but were afraid their magic would be too strong to stop her fall, and would do more damage than good. They had all been forced to stand aroung and wait as they watched the Mayors daughter teeter off the edge of the roof, 6 stories off the ground, until Seungcheol showed up. The reason she had been on the rooftop, though, was still a mystery to everyone. Authorities decided to assume someone had used black magic and enchanted her, forcing her to sleepwalk her way to the rooftop. It was probably an evil attempt to send a message to the mayor by killing the town’s favorite daughter in a public stunt.

The Magic user in question was never found, but the mayor was apparently so grateful anyways, that he offered to send Seungcheol to the university under his own name, Pledis Academy, for free.

His parents made the decision for him, packed up his bags, and sent him on his way with proud smiles planted on their faces.

So... here he was now. Pledis academy, where he attended for free among the honors classes. Here, he was known by his peers as ‘the unexpected hero’, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Choi’s kid’, ‘The presidents pet’, and by his nickname; ‘S.coups.’

Seungcheol sighed as he walked the paved path of the academy garden, sighed as he waited for the bus, and continued to sigh the rest of the way home. He was tired, honestly. Being a hero was tough stuff, especially when it meant that every single teacher, adult, and stranger; had expectations of him that Seungcheol didn't believe he possessed himself. That trick at the mayor’s house had been a spur of the moment thing; he had pulled it off because of the adrenaline and the fact that the kid would have died if he hadn’t. Since then, he hadn’t been able to do the same spell for longer than a couple seconds, before collapsing from exhaustion.

Magic just really wasn’t for him.

Seungcheol unlocked the door to his house, kicking off his shoes before lying face-first onto the couch.

“How was school?” He didn’t even bother to look up, muttering an incoherent sentence into the cushion. Jeonghan laughed, turning back to the pot he had on the stove, and stirring it steadily.

“That bad, huh? Was Mr. Lee teaching spells again today?” Seungcheol turned his face to look at Jeonghan, who had his long silver hair tied into a ponytail, and a frilly apron over his chest. From behind, he really did look like a girl. Anyone walking in on them would probably think they were married.

“Why did that guy become a teacher? All he does is read from the textbook and talk about old people.”

“Haha, I think that’s what teachers are supposed to do? He is boring, though. Do you want some dinner? I’m making mixed bibimbap.” Seungcheol sniffed the air, smiling as the savory goodness danced inside his nose.

“I love you.”

“I know.”

Seungcheol put his dishes into the sink after finishing his dinner, thanking Jeonghan for the meal, who smiled at him in reply. Some might think that their living arrangement was strange, two men under the same roof, caring for each other. In the end, Seungcheol had a house that his parents paid for, and Junghan needed a place to stay (and was willing to do household chores.) It worked out for the both of them. “I’m going to go do some homework downstairs, don’t bug me for a while.”

“Okay Mr. meticulous, don’t be too loud. I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

He grabbed his textbook before venturing down to the basement. It was late, and he really didn’t feel up to doing something as boring as making feathers float. He was still going to do it, though... It was better than getting lectured by Mr. Lee later on; for putting off his studying. He sat down by his desk and absentmindedly flipped to page 96, skipping all the pre-instructions and getting straight to supplies. Why the hell do you need supplies to perform a simple levitation? Ask Mr. Lee, Seungcheol really didn’t care enough to question it. He stood with his book and looked through the shelves. Shadow dust: check, Copper string: check, purifying salts: check, pure red charcoal: check, human… human blood? Okay, check? Seungcheol could never understand why they had to make these spells so overcomplicated. He set down the supplies and his book on the floor, skimming over the instructions as he worked. Set the string in a spiral shape in the middle, check. Draw a circle with the charcoal, chck. Write some Latin with that same charcoal, perfect. Seungcheol grabbed the cleanest knife he had in stock.

Spells that required blood were always the worst, since Seungcheol was terrible with pain.

He clenched his teeth as he ran the blade across his wrist, making sure not to cut too deep. The blood dripped steadily into a bowl he had set down onto the floor. When he decided it was enough, Seungcheol quickly wrapped some sterile cloth around his wrist and tied it tightly, wincing in pain as the fabric pushed into his wound.

Alright last part, a few unfamiliar sigils here and there, a ring of salt and shadow powder around the charcoal and bam, all the unnecessary feather floating supplies are in place! Seungcheol placed a white feather in the middle of it all, and then stood back as he read the incantation. He had never really gotten a grasp on learning fluent Latin, but he mostly knew how the pronunciation worked, so it wasn’t really a problem that he didn’t understand a word he was saying.

“Deligati ad me te accerso daemonium eiceret de inferno liberabis. coniuncta sanguine meo et lingua mea maneat attendit ad iussa . Ostende te!” Seungcheol smiled when a pulse of power surged out of the circle, causing the feather to lift off the ground as planned. Amazing what a little blood and salt can do... Of course, he could have done the same thing with a single line of enchantment, but whatever.

The feather fell to the ground slowly, after levitating in the air for just a few seconds, and Seungcheol moved to clean up his things. He was feeling surprisingly lightheaded, considering he had just done a simple textbook-level spell... Ha, Just goes to show how much ‘potential’ he had. He reached down for the feather, jumping back in surprise when the floor suddenly began to glow, causing the feather to fly back into the air again. From the glowing circle in the centre of the basement came a steady stream of black smoke, which made anything further than a foot away impossible to make out.

Seungcheol desperately coughed out the black smoke, which had begun to intrude his lung... it tasted like dirt. He used his hands to swat dusk away from his eyes, squinting to figure out what had happened.

The fog gradually began to clear, and Seungcheol could just make out a human figure, faintly…

Oh… That’s not human…

First he spotted a tail, slick and black with a poof of shiny ebony fur sticking out of the end, whipping around wildly. He followed the tail to the body attached to it, a short, humanly shaped figure which was crouched over slightly, looking around where it stood. Upon its head were sharp-looking black horns, which stuck out on either side of its…. Pink hair?

Seungcheol prevented himself from screaming in horror by freezing completely, stalk –still as the fog cleared away. He was backed up into his desk as much as he could at this point, eyeing the creature which had just appeared within his basement.

It was… not what he had expected... With the tail and the horns, plus the whole ominous fog thing, somewhere in his mind Seungcheol had assumed it would be an ugly beast; covered in scales and slime, dripping with sharp teeth and littered with the gore of its victims.

Instead it was… kind of cute? It was short, like, really short. Like shorter than most girls he knew. The monsters skin was clear and porcelain, its face round and pudgy, with a small nose, pouting lips, and eyes that seemed innocent; like a child, maybe. There was also the fact that it had pastel pink hair, and it seemed to be wearing pajamas? Seungcheol couldn’t believe what was happening. He pinched himself on the arm to ensure this wasn’t a dream, which caused him to receive a strange look from the thing standing before him.

"Where the hell have you summoned me to, human?" Seungcheol couldn't speak, couldn't move. He eyed the monster precariously as it backed up into what seemed to be an invisible wall; the purifying salt must have acted as a barrier. "What, are you deaf?"

Seungcheol gulped, and continued to stare at the thing standing before him, which was glaring through soft brown eyes that almost seemed human.

Jihoon quickly looked around, taking in his surroundings in panic. Shadow powder scattered around him, a ring of salt, human blood etched into symbols, familiar Latin chants written on the floor, a long wad of copper string. Shit, really? This dickhead, he really thinks he's going to be able to enslave him or something? Jihoon jumped at a sudden coldness crawling up his body. He reached a shaky hand up to his neck, where he felt the copper string wrapping around selectively, forming an articulate collar around his throat. No, this guy looked confused, terrified actually. He must have done this by accident, or else what kind of an idiot spawns a demon and acts surprised afterwards? Jihoon couldn't think, he felt himself becoming lightheaded, anxious. If this kid's an amateur, he probably doesn't know the reversal spell; that shit was always a riddle, and you'd need experience to pull it off. Jihoon suddenly wished he had been born a higher rank. Then this amateur wouldn't have been able to summon so goddamn easily. He watched in disbelief as the human turned away from him, and began to skim through his spell-book hysterically, muttering nervously under his breath. That's that then, he was dead. This idiot human was going to call the authorities to clean up his stupid mess, and Jihoon was going to die.

Seungcheol read over the instructions at the top of the page, which he had regrettably ignored before.  _Demon summoning... bound together... will not succumb to orders easily...  naturally aggressive... training._

...Shit.

“Are you going to answer me or not?” Jihoon pounded against the wall of the barrier, frustrated. Why did something so easily accessible like salt have to be his weakness? The human finally turned away from his book, and began to stare at Jihoon again, a look of confusion written clearly in his expression.

“You… What are you?” If Seungcheol was going to try to fix this mess, he may as well start here. Did he just fuck up badly enough to summon a demon from hell? Really?

“Are you kidding me? Fuck, you really did this accidentally? Fuck, fuck me, god damn it!” Jihoon turned away, his eyes stinging in anger. He was dead, he was going to die. “I’m a demon, shitlord. Next time you perform a summoning, maybe you should think about taking a look at what you’re about to summon!”

Jesus, okay so this thing is really a demon. Seungcheol has just summoned a demon, from hell, and his parents are going to kill him.

He rushed past it, clenching his fists in worry, and headed up stairs.

“Where are you going?!” Seungcheol stopped in his tracks, turning to look at the demon, whose eyes were filled with panic. If Seungcheol didn’t know any better, he’d say the demon was on the verge of tears. That was preposterous though, it was a demon, weren’t they void of any kind of feelings?

“Upstairs. I’m going to call my parents.”

The demons tail wrapped tightly around his leg at his words. “No! I mean, please don’t…”

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow at him. He felt his vision waver for a moment, but ignored it to focus on the matter at hand. “Why? The faster they get here and take care of this, the faster you can get back to hell or whatever, and the faster I can get back to my demon-free life.”

The demon gnawed at his lip with worry, his hands pressed up hard against the barrier. “You… you can’t.”

“Why?”

Jihoon thought for a moment, his gaze peeking down at the book the human was holding. “The spell you used… it was black magic, right?”

Seungcheol walked back down to the demons level, sitting on one of the steps to prevent himself from fainting and falling down the stairs. He tried to focus on what the demon was saying while he rested his legs for a moment. It would probably not be a great idea to pass out now, considering the situation “I don’t know… I just realized that the book I used is probably not my school textbook.” The demon’s mouth dropped open incredulously.

“It was black magic, that stuff is illegal among humans, isn’t it?” Seungcheol nodded. “If you call your parents, or anyone else, the first thing they’re going to do is kill me.” He gulped. “The second thing they’re going to do is imprison you for summoning me, and you and your powers are never going to see the light of day again.”

“You’re a demon, aren’t you? Why should it matter if you die, you’re evil or something.” Seungcheol felt a little regretful saying it when he watched the demons face fall, but continued anyways. “Plus, they’re my parents. They would more quickly turn to the dark side than let the police take me away.”

The demon dropped to his knees, his hands clenching together in annoyance. The whole pink hair, baby face, pajama party combo thing he had going on tugged at Seungcheol’s heartstrings just a bit, but he wouldn’t let his mind falter just because the demon was a little cute. Seungcheol watched him with his brows furrowed together in contemplation for a long moment. There was absolutely no way he should listen to a demons advice... but, he also wasn’t so certain about what he had said about his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Choi were all about following rules and sticking to society’s backside, there was a high likelihood of them kicking him into prison without a second thought. He sighed.

“If I don’t call someone, what am I supposed to do with you? I have a roommate you know, I can’t just keep you in a circle of salt down here for the rest of my life.”

Jihoon sighed in relief. Okay, maybe he wasn’t going to die just yet. This human seemed just smart enough to listen. “You need to do a reversal spell to send me back; there should hopefully be one in that book.” He pointed towards the black book set down beside him.

Seungcheol picked up the book again and flipped back to the right page. He looked through it quickly, stopping to look curiously at the final few steps in the process. “…I don’t see anything about reversing the spell.” He peaked back up at the demon, who was sitting on the floor with his hands on his knees, his tail still tight around his leg.

“Check the back of the page.”

He flipped the page, wincing when he eyed the large, incoherent paragraph. It was all written in an alien language, different letters and everything. He turned the book towards the demon, who squinted and leaned in to see. “Can you read this?”

“I’ve never seen that language before…”

“Shit. I think this might be it, though.” Seungcheol ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

“The person who wrote the book must have written the reversal spell in code, or something.” Jihoon breathed out in anger, hugging his knees to his chest.

Seungcheol flipped back to the other page, reading over it. “Why can’t you just… I don’t know, poof back to hell?” He couldn’t really believe the situation still. There he was, sitting in his basement, having a conversation with a goddamn demon. He supposed he could cross that one off the ol’ bucket list now.

“Are you an idiot? Actually, forget I asked, judging by the situation we’re in I think we both know the answer to that. One: circle of salt, remember? Two: See this thing around my neck? It’s a binding spell. Thanks for that, by the way.” The demon looked away in annoyance. Seungcheol just now noticed his choker. It looked like a fancy copper collar, one you might buy for a spoiled cat.

“You’re pretty mouthy, considering the situation we’re in. Want me to go call the police, then?” The demons eyes widened.

“No! Sorry, please don’t.” Seungcheol smirked at him, before going back to his reading. _After the summoning is complete, wait until the binding spell forms in whichever way it is imagined. The next step is to give the demon a new name, which will complete the bond. After this step is complete, the demon will be officially yours, and you may use it to your discretion. The chant to use when naming the demon is_ _‘_ _Quidquid_ _vocatus es apud vos : hoc nomen mihi nunc respondent_ _*Name*_ _dabo tibi ita nunc exhibete membra vestra pretia militiae_ _.’_

 _“_ It says I have to name you to complete the spell.”

Jihoon crossed his arms over his chest. “Huh? I’m not a pet, fuck off.”

“According to this you are, and watch your language.” Jihoon shrunk into himself again. He supposed if he was going to get out of this alive, he should play along for now. “What is your name, anyways?”

“I’m not telling you, that kind of thing is personal. I don’t want to get any kind of personal with a human.”

Seungcheol stood up from the step to retort, feeling himself becoming woozy instantly. He teetered on his feet for a moment before steadying against the wall, focusing his eyes back on the demon. An idea hit him when his mind returned to him. Woozy? Uji? Woozi? It kind of fit.

“Fine, I’ll just give you a name, then. How does Woozi sound?” Jihoon’s eyes widened.

“Wait, you don’t know what you’re doing! How can you be sure that the reversal chant won’t work if you complete the binding?” Seungcheol leaned his back against the wall.

“What else am I supposed to do? I can’t just let you go free, but I can’t leave you in middle of my basement either! Until We figure out what this language means, you’re just going to have to suck it up and play along.” Jihoon squeezed his eyes shut for a second, leaning his forehead against the barrier in defeat.

“You… you’re not going to make me do anything weird, right? And you won’t call the authorities?”

 _Weird?_ Seungcheol wondered what he might have meant by that. “No, I won’t. You will have to stay hidden from my roommate, though. No wandering around the house.” The demon nodded hesitantly. “Woozi’s fine, right?”

“That’s a dumb name, but fine, as long as it’s temporary.”

Seungcheol gulped, holding up the book in his hands again. He faced Woozi as he spoke “Quidquid vocatus es apud vos : hoc nomen mihi nunc respondent Woozi dabo tibi ita nunc exhibete membra vestra pretia militiae.” Seungcheol felt the blood in his veins start to boil; he fell to his knees and groaned in pain at a burning sensation on his chest. His shaking hands reached up to pull down his shirt, watching with wide eyes as his flesh began to bubble under an invisible branding iron. He shot his head up in shock when he heard Woozi scream as well, curling up on the ground and pawing at the collar on his neck, which was red-hot and burning into his throat painfully. It only lasted a couple of seconds thankfully, and when the pain finally ceased, Seungcheol and Woozi both remained on the floor, catching their breath.

Seungcheol watched Woozi uncurl, tears streaming steadily down his face. “Are you okay?”

Jihoon sat up slowly, wincing in pain. That was… more uncomfortable than he had hoped.. “yeah… just swell. Would you let me out of this fucking thing now? I'm getting claustrophobic in here"

“Oh.. Yeah, okay.” Seungcheol got up slowly, immediately regretting it when he felt a lurch in his stomach. He hunched over as he emptied everything in his belly, including his dinner and what looked to be a lot of internal bleeding. He may have overdone it tonight.

Jihoon watched in worry-… Huh? No... He’s just a human, he shouldn’t care whether he lives or dies or suffers, or anything in-between. He shook the thought from his mind, trying to focus more on the white-hot pain he was feeling on his neck. He was thankful that he would heal quickly.

Seungcheol stood up properly again after wiping the blood from his chin. He walked carefully over to woozi, reaching his unsteady foot out to break the barrier.

 _“_ Seungcheol, Is everything okay? I heard yelling!” The both of them whipped around to the sound of footsteps, which were descending the stairs at an alarming rate.

He just couldn’t catch a break today, could he?


	2. Keeping Your Demon a Secret

Seungcheol shoved aside his exhaustion and pain for a moment, and turned back to Woozi. With a swift movement of his foot, he created a gap in the circle of salt, breaking the barrier. Woozi let out a yelp of surprise when Seungcheol grabbed roughly by the arm, pulling him along and shoving him into a wardrobe, which only had a couple of old jackets and a pair of shoes stored inside.

“What are y-” Seungcheol put a finger against Woozi’s lips, quieting him effectively. He backed up into the cupboard and didn’t make another noise as Seungcheol shut him inside. Seungcheol whipped around, attempting to act natural.

His idea of natural apparently being: grinning like an idiot and posing awkwardly against the wardrobe

Jeonghan came down the steps quickly, with a concerned expression. He looked around at the mess in the room, and immediately knew something was wrong.

“Seungcheol?... Why… What happened?” Seungcheol’s fake smile faltered, stepping forward slightly to explain. The moment he lifted his foot up he watched his vision go blotchy. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, coughing his lungs out onto the concrete, and staining the grey floor in bright red splatter. Jeonghan rushed to his side, patting him on the back in an attempt to aid his coughing fit, heart thumping in worry. “Seungcheol, are you oka- Oh my god, is that blood?!”

Seungcheol couldn’t hear what Jeonghan was saying, everything around him started to sound like echoed fuzz. He lifted his head to look at his friend, whose face was grey and blurry in his vision. weakly, he lifted the corners of his lips into a smile, as if to say ‘I’m fine, don’t worry,’ before losing consciousness, confirming the complete opposite. Jeonghan caught him before he could collapse onto the ground.

Jihoon leaned into the door of the wardrobe, peeking out curiously through a thin gap in the wood. He watched as someone-probably a woman, judging by the long hair- picked Seungcheol up into her arms and carried him upstairs, all the while calling his name and worrying over his unconscious body. Eventually the voice faded away, and Jihoon was left alone in the silent basement. He considered leaving his hiding spot for a moment, before deciding against it. There was a high chance of that woman  coming back down, and Jihoon had dealt with enough human drama for one day. He leaned back into the corner of the wardrobe, and hung his head sadly. His fingers trembled as he reached up to touch the sensitive skin around his neck, sighing in relief when he felt that his flesh had already started its rapid healing. He traced over the collar, noticing the divots in the smooth area on the front, some sort of lettering. with closed eyes in the darkness of the confining space, he felt each individual letter and concentrated. _S… E…. U… N… G.._ Was it a name? _C… H… E… O… L…_ Seungcheol…? That kids name must be Seungcheol.

He sighed, hugging his knees closer to his chest. Great, he was officially branded by a human. When he gets back home, (if he ever gets back home) he was dead… His parents were going to kill him.

~

Jeonghan set Seungcheol down on the bed, his mind panicking. He wasn’t stupid, it was obvious what was happening here. The blood, the awful side effects, the demonic sigils; Seungcheol had been using black magic. He was his friend, his best friend, so obviously he couldn’t call the police, but that also meant he couldn’t bring him to the hospital; they would figure it out straight away. Jeonghan spotted a small area on Seungcheol’s shirt that looked singed, pulling it down to reveal an irritated red burn in the shape of a word.

What’s a Woozi?

God damn it Seungcheol, what the hell have you gotten yourself into? Jeonghan propped him up against the headboard of the bed, hoping this way he wouldn’t choke to death on his own blood, and turned to grab the first aid kit. Thankfully for this stupid boy, Jeonghan majored in healing magic. He cut a few stems of aloe growing on the bedside table, stripping it apart and laying the cool side of the plant over the burn on his chest. He then placed his palms over the plants and muttered a quick chant, causing the aloe to glow a light blue and cool down to a chilly temperature. It would help the burn heal more effectively this way.

Next he grabbed a small white pill from his kit, dropping it into a glass of water to dissolve it. He began to recite a line from his textbook, one he remembered would aid in internal healing. The drink began to glow a florescent color for a couple of seconds, before returning to normal.

He grabbed the glass and tilted into his friend’s mouth. It dripped into his parted lips before trickling down his chin.

Okay, this wasn’t going to work.

Jeonghan decided instead to drink it himself, holding the bitter liquid in his mouth and leaning into his friends lips. He closed his eyes and pushed him mouth against Seungcheol, transferring the medicine to him. He made sure Seungcheol drank by massaging his throat lightly, their mouths sealed together.

After giving him all the medicine he had, Jeonghan pulled away and caught his breath, wiping the Seungcheol cooties off his face in disgust. This guy had better be damn thankful when he woke up, yuck. He sat on the edge of the bed, breathing out in relief as Seungcheol’s breathing began to steady. It would take about a night for the medicine to work completely, so Jeonghan let him sleep.

But really, where the hell did Seungcheol get his hands on black magic? Seungcheol, sweet hearted Seungcheol, who hardly wanted anything to do with regular magic in the first place, would risk his life doing illegal spells? He just couldn’t wrap his head around it; Seungcheol couldn’t have done it on purpose.

But... if he had, what had he used it for? When he'd gotten down there, he had only seen the aftermath of the event, and nothing more. Jeonghan looked over to watch his friends face, peacefully unconscious.

He poked his cheek in annoyance. “You dummy, what did you do?” There was a nagging feeling in his mind that he wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight.

~

Seungcheol opened his eyes slowly, cringing at the bright light streaming through the blinds and into his tired eyes. He propped himself up on his elbows, feeling his chest ache at the movement. His eyes looked around slowly, feeling confused. When did he get in his own bed?

He stretched his arms out, popping a few kinks in his aching joints, and rubbeding his tired eyes. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, feeling wetness over his chest. Seungcheol lifted his shirt up to see two stems of enchanted aloe, which he removed slowly. The burn underneath was no longer swelling and bleeding, but it was still irritated. It looked strange though; it seemed to be a word?

 “Woo… Woozi?”

Seungcheol shot up into a sitting position, suddenly feeling wide awake. Fuck, okay so that wasn’t just a weird dream? Seungcheol had really summoned a demon last night? Oh shit, did Jeonghan know? Where’s Woozi? Seungcheol felt light-headed, a million thoughts racing in his mind at once.

“Morning, sleepy.” Seungcheol jumped up in shock, whipping his head around to look at Jeonghan, who was currently waking up under the sheets beside him, his long hair strewn over his pillows half-hazard.

“Fuck, Jeonghan you scared the shit out of me. Why are you in my bed?” Jeonghan squinted at him in annoyance.

“Yah, you could be a little grateful you know. I watched over you last night so you wouldn’t choke on your own blood, I barely slept at all.” Seungcheol rubbed his temple in frustration, trying to aid his quickly growing headache.

“S-sorry, thanks. Hey, Han…. Did I pass out?” Jeonghan was acting really oddly normal. Was Woozi still hidden? Is Seungcheol’s unforgivable criminal act still a secret? He watched Jeonghan closely, trying to find some answers in his expression.

 Jeonghan smiled at him innocently, something was definitely up. Did Seungcheol really think that he knew nothing? This idiot is going to get himself killed with that mindset. Fine then, Jeonghan can play dumb. If Seungcheol didn’t trust him enough to tell him about it, than he wasn’t going to bother to help him clean his mess. He can deal with his whole black magic fiasco himself if that’s how it’s going to be. “Yeah, must have been some tough homework, there was blood everywhere. How are you feeling?” He put his palm up to Seungcheol’s forehead, checking for a fever. He was a normal temperature, thankfully, though his face was beet red.

“Ah, yeah… I guess I was just tired, probably.”

“Maybe that’s it (This fucking liar.) Do you feel up to going to school today, or do you want me to call you in sick?” If he stayed home his parents would hear about it, and he really didn’t think now would be a good time to have to deal with them.

“No, I think I’m fine… just a little hungry.” (that part wasn't a lie) Jeonghan got up quickly, smoothing out his half of the bed before walking off.

“I’ll go make some breakfast then. Have a shower, you smell bad.” Seungcheol waited for Jeonghan to leave down the hall, before taking a tentative sniff of his own armpits, retreating his nose quickly after and gagging in disgust. A shower was definitely a good idea.

After making himself smell like manly ocean depths and musk, Seungcheol exited the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked at himself in the mirror with a sigh. He looked like shit, honestly His eyes were puffy and red from lack of sleep, and the stress from yesterday seemed to have removed all the color from his face and made him look ghastly. (Or maybe that was the aftermath of using that spell? He wasn’t really sure) He traced the name on his chest gently, feeling the individual bumps and divots the name had marked into his skin… Woozi.

A realization hit him, and he looked up at himself with wide eyes. Woozi, he should probably go check on Woozi.

Seungcheol dried his hair swiftly, before throwing on his school uniform. He walked out into the kitchen, where Jeonghan was sitting at the table with two plates of pancakes. Seungcheol basically breathed them in, chugged his coffee, and started towards the basement. “Thanks for breakfast!”

“Where are you going?” He stopped in his tracks. He had been hoping Jeonghan wouldn’t question him, but of course he never got what he wanted.

  
“I, uh… downstairs. I’m going to go clean up my mess from yesterday.” Jeonghan stood up with the empty plates and put them in the sink, rinsing them off.

“You can clean it up after school, we’re going to miss the bus if don’t leave now.” Seungcheol almost audibly whined, scratching his head in worry. He looked towards the basement door, and then to Jeonghan; who was eyeing him incredulously. A sigh of defeat escaped his mouth.

Sorry Woozi… “Okay, let’s go then.” He grabbed his things. His book was still downstairs, but Seungcheol decided it would probably not be a great Idea to bring a black-magic book with him to school. He was pretty pissed about losing his real textbook though, those things were expensive. Finding that, and getting rid of the black magic book, was a problem he would probably have to deal with later. He gave the basement one final apologetic look, before following Jeonghan out the door.

~

“Coups, hey- whoa!.... You look like shit.” Soonyoung leaned into his face with his mouth agape, staring at him in surprise. Seokmin stood next to him, with an equally startled expression.

“Why do you look dead? What happened?” Seokmin shoved his hand into his pocket, unable to look away from Seungcheol’s ghostly appearance.

Seungcheol sighed, rubbing his hands over his face with annoyance. “Don’t ask, I’m just tired.”

Soonyoung leaned back with a goofy grin, staring at him expectantly. “Too tired for our wild house party tonight?”

Fuck, he had forgotten about that, shit. “That… that was tonight?” The two of them laughed in sync. When Seungcheol didn’t join in and joke along, Soonyoung gasped.

“What, you forgot already? We planned this yesterday, Coup’s. Everyone’s coming: Junhui, Jisoo, Wonwoo, Mingyu… Ah, and Minghao convinced that American kid Hansol to come along!” Seungcheol looked away in worry, feeling his palms getting sweaty at each new mention of a name (or a potential witness to his crime, in his mind.) “You’re not canceling on us, are you? It took me forever to figure out a day when we were all free, come on hyung.” Soonyoung grabbed Seungcheol’s hands in his own, looking into his eyes with a pout.

Seungcheol really had to work on being more assertive. With a heavy heart, he nodded. “Okay, fine...” Soonyoung’s face brightened instantly, pulling Seungcheol into a tight hug, which coerced strange looks from various people in the room.

“Settle down everyone, class is starting.” The three of them turned towards the familiarly husky voice of one Mr. Lee, each student in the class collectively losing their last shred of hope at his appearance. “Mrs. Im is taking a sick day, so I’m filling in for her history class."

Soonyoung turned back to Seungcheol with a pittying look in his eyes, placing a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulders. “Good luck, I’ll see you tonight.” Seungcheol watched as he and Seokmin made a hasty exit from the classroom, leaving Seungcheol to his doom (An hour of Mr. Lee's boring ramblings). He opened his history textbook and prepared to zone out everything his teacher was about to say, twirling a pencil between his fingers and staring out the window in thought.

“Turn to page 103 of your textbooks and take a look at the WW4 writings. I know that in your last class, Mrs. Im went into details about the development of defensive magic within the army, so today we are going to expand into that and talk about the use of black magic.” Seungcheol quirked his head up at that, turning to the page in his textbook, and reading through curiously. “In 2019, when the fourth world war broke out due to North Korea’s attack on The US, Magical users were scouted by the US government to aid them in the war. At first it had been fair game, the US government and their allies -South Korea, Canada, the UK, other European countries-, gathered an army of strong magical users who were trained specifically in combat, and swiftly pushed North Korea back, despite the fact that they had been winning the war previously. North Korea quickly realized after this, that they would need to fight on equal terms if they had any chance of winning this war. North Korea and their allies gathered a magic army as well, but decided against fighting fair, and aimed for darker techniques. The North Korean forces showed up at the boarder of the US with both an army of humans, and an equally sized army of demon familiars. The battle that started that day, January 31st, 2019, lasted for about a week. It was obvious that North Korea was winning; Their Army was double the size of the US army, and had the aid of couple-thousand rabid demons at their beck-and-call.”

Seungcheol quirked an eyebrow, listening carefully to his teacher for the first time in his life. It was rather strange to him, knowing he could relate to the fourth world war with his own vaguely similar predicament. Another one to cross off the ol’ bucket list.

“The North Koreans were on the brink of victory, which would have been a tilting point in the balance of power in the world, at that time. It seemed hopeless, until hell intervened. When I say this, I’m not insinuating that anyone from hell is good; as they have done awful, unforgivable things in the past, which we will go into depth about in a later class. However, their interference did manage to tilt the balance of power during the war, resulting in victory for the allied nations. The king of hell, more popularly known as Satan, was angered by the dropping numbers of his citizens, who had been summoned away from his kingdom and forced to abide by human commands without his permission.” Seungcheol gulped. “He displayed his wrath in an enormous show of demonic power, effectively killing each individual human on the battle site, America’s army, North Korea’s army, and innocent bystanders included. It is unknown to us whether or not the demons were killed as well, since no trace of them was ever found, but historians have found it safe to assume that they were. It just goes to show how evil they are, as he only stepped in because his subjects were aiding someone other than himself. The war did not necessarily end after this, North Korea continued their attacks, only without the use of magic, since they feared a similar incident would occur again. Now, if you’ll turn to the next page, we’ll talk about the non-magical utilities of the world war.”

Okay, that’s enough listening for one day. Seungcheol took in what he had just heard, feeling stressed. Surely Satan wouldn’t rain his wrath upon him for (accidentally) summoning just one of his subjects? He looked out the window beside him, sighing at his own distracting worries. What could Woozi be up to right now?

~

Jihoon opened his eyes slowly, only to be greeted by more darkness. He sniffed the air in confusion, getting a nice whiff of old shoes and genuine oak. Right, he was still in that dumb wardrobe, wasn’t he? He sat up and stretched his arms out as much as the confinements of the wardrobe would allow him, rubbing his tired eyes. What time was it? It was difficult for him to decide how long he’d been sleeping, since the time he’d spent stuck in this dumb wooden box had felt like an eternity. He peeked through the crack in the wardrobe, looking around to see if anyone was there. There was no-one, to his relief.

Surely Seungcheol wouldn’t mind him leaving the Wardrobe for just a second? He really just needed to stand up and stretch out a bit. Cautiously, he opened the doors of the wardrobe, crawling out onto the concrete ground and looking around fearfully. The place was still a mess, so no one had come down to clean while he had been asleep, obviously. He stood up on jittery legs, holding his tail between his hands and petting the fur on the end to calm his nerves. As far as he could tell, there was no one home right now. The scent of humans was lingering in the air faintly, so they must have left for something a couple hours ago... probably.

If he was alone, maybe he could take a look around? Just for a second, and then he’d go right back into the wardrobe and wait until Seungcheol returned.

Jihoon stepped past the supplies littering the floor, which sent him back to the unfortunate accident yesterday and made his head hurt. Each step up the rotting wooden stairs creaked dangerously; causing Jihoon’s heart to beat wildly in his chest. When he finally reached the top, he opened the door with a cautious hand and whipped his head back-and-forth to ensure that the coast was clear.

The rest of the house, to Jihoon’s surprise, was much nicer than Seungcheol’s basement. It was furnished nicely, everything was tidy, and the air smelled faintly of baked goods. He stepped around the room; basking in the natural daylight that was feeding through a window, and felt himself relax, only slightly. The sun was set low in the sky, so it was either early in the morning, or close to sunset; Jihoon couldn’t tell. Being forced to sleep in a cold, dark cupboard after that traumatic event yesterday had really done a number on his psyche. It reminded him vaguely of the times his father had made him sleep in the hound-house for reasons he’d rather not get into.

Jihoon had plenty of fond memories of his dad being a dick, but now probably wasn’t the best time to think about that. He instead found himself distracted by what appeared to be a thin black box hanging on the wall. It was an odd decoration, though Jihoon generally found humans to be odd anyways. He reached forward and touched it hesitantly, running his fingers over the edge. His hand pressed into a bump on the side of it, making him jump back in fear when the surface lit up and began to play moving pictures.

He stared wide-eyed. Fascinated, but also completely terrified. It was moving, and the sound coming from it was really loud. He ran around in a circle of panic, before lunging forward and pressing every bump he could find, in a frantic attempt to silence the box. (Which only made the situation worse. The sound got louder, and the picture changed into a scene displaying a hectic human battle.)

Jihoon felt his heart stop completely when he heard the familiar sound of a door opening.

Muffled chatting echoed down from the hallway, which was slowly approaching the room Jihoon was currently standing in like an idiot. He had to think, quickly, but his mind effectively froze on the spot when he needed it most. The basement door was loud, so anyone in the house would hear him if he tried to escape back downstairs...

His only other choice was to hide. He scanned his surroundings momentarily, before jumping into his best bet and hoping for the best, with his tail gripped tightly in his shaking hands.

Seungcheol kicked his shoes off, feeling fear growing in his gut at every next person entering his quaint home. “Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable in the living room, I need to go clean something up downstairs.”

“Oooh, secret stuff? Want me to help?” Soonyoung winked at him slyly, coercing an eruption of laughter from the rest of the occupants in his house. Seungcheol chuckled awkwardly.

“Nah, I’m good. Don’t steal my stuff while I’m gone.” He and the others walked towards the living room, Seungcheol turned away from the group and headed for the basement, feeling jittery.

“Hey, why’s the TV on? I was sure I had turned it off before we left…”

Shit.

He turned his head and looked around the room in concern. There was no demon out in the open, as far as he could tell, so maybe Woozi was still downstairs? He opened the door to the basement and headed towards the wardrobe, feeling just a little ironic as he prayed to god that Woozi was still there.

“Woozi?” He whispered the name, so that no one upstairs might hear him. “Woozi, are you in there?” His shaking hands opened the doors, and Seungcheol nearly collapsed to the floor as he stared into the empty wooden wardrobe. Okay, calm down, don’t panic. Maybe he went home? No, he couldn’t have, the stupid spell stopped him from doing that… maybe he just ran away into the streets after watching his TV? Either way, Seungcheol was fucked.

He swept up the salt and powder on the ground, and smudged the charcoal sigils with his foot. He could scrub the blood off another day; right now his problem lied with Woozi’s mysterious disappearance.

He headed back upstairs feeling burdened, and joined the rest of the gang, who had already managed to crack open his supply of alcohol. “Hey, whoever here is underage better stay the hell away from the adult drinks.”A number of boys in the group collectively aww’d, looking towards Seungcheol with pleading eyes. “I mean it, no drinks for anyone under 19, or else this little party is cancelled.”

Chan sighed, looking towards Hansol with a sad expression, and putting his can of beer back onto the table, which Jeonghan snatched away for himself. “Yes, Dad…”

“Yah!” He aimed his fist at the smartass in a threatening manner, causing Chan to flinch back in a fit of giggles. Grabbing a can of bear for himself, he took a seat on his armchair to join the conversation. Seungcheol almost forgot about Woozi as he laughed along with the others, until he was abruptly reminded by the sound of the demons whispering voice.

“Psst… Seungcheol.” The others were too busy talking amongst themselves to notice. Seungcheol looked around in confusion, trying to find where the voice was coming from. Maybe he was losing his mind? “Down here…” He followed the sound of the voice with his eyes, freezing when he spotted a familiar head of pink hair and black horns, which were currently peeking out from behind his couch where Chan, Jeonghan, Seokmin, and Seungkwan were currently sitting.

Woozi stared up at him with eyes that seemed to be screaming for help, and Seungcheol stared back at him, his brain void of any ideas on how they were going to get out of this.

 “Everything okay, Coups?” Mingyu raised an eyebrow at Seungcheol, who had been staring at a spot behind the couch for a while now.

“I’m fine! Hey, do you guys want to take this outside? We can set up the bonfire.”

Last time they used the bonfire, the authorities had paid them a visit and Seungcheol had gotten a pretty hefty ticket, but he could deal with taking that chance for the sake of keeping his criminal record clean. The group agreed enthusiastically, standing up to get outside. Seungcheol guided them all out the door, stopping behind them when everyone was accounted for.

“Oh, I forgot my lighter; I’ll be out in a second.”

He closed the door before anyone could question him, grabbing Woozi by the arm and pulling him out from behind the couch, leading him towards the basement door. Woozi started to protest, pulling against Seungcheols grip defiantly.

“Oh, S.coups, by the way.” He practically threw Woozi down the hall so that he was out of sight, provoking a pained yelp from the demon as he toppled to the floor. Seungcheol hoped to god he hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah?”

Soonyoung gave him a funny look. He was leaning against the wall in an attempt to act casual, forcing a smile on his face.

“Just… Bring marshmallows with you when you come out… please.” He turned away from him with a confused expression, headed back outside.

“yeah, sure thing!” When the door shut again, Seungcheol immediately looked down the hall and cringed, watching as Woozi rubbed the back of his head with a pained expression, still sitting on the floor.

“Shit, sorry, are you okay? I panicked.” Woozi got back to his feet slowly, a scowl on his face.

“Oh yeah, I’m just peachy! Dumbass, does it look like I’m okay?” The moody demon crossed his arms over his chest and huffed out in annoyance.

Seungcheol stepped forward and pulled Woozi into the closest room to them, his bedroom, not bothering to fight him for being rude out in the open.

“Yah! Quit yanking me around, I’m not a rag doll!” Seungcheol put his hand over the demons scowling lips to quiet him, speaking in a hushed voice.

“Keep your voice down; do you want them to find you? And what the hell were you doing? Literally the only rule I had set was that you couldn’t wander around the house.” Woozi moved his face away from Seungcheol’s hand with a disgusted expression, his eyebrows crinkling together.

“Your basement is stuffy, I needed some fucking air. I was just going to come up for a second! How was I supposed to know you’d come home with an entire pack of smelly humans…” he averted his eyes, shrinking under the harsh gaze of the taller boy.

Seungcheol couldn’t believe he was standing here, scolding a demon. This whole situation was ridiculous. He also couldn’t help but notice that with the better lighting, and a less extreme situation, woozi’s was kind of... Charming? He was really way too short to be intimidating, and his skin was clear and pale like a doll. Looking up at him with those round brown eyes, it made Seungcheol wanted to hold him tight and protect him forever... Then he remembered his horns and tail (not to mention the foul mouth on this boy, Jesus) and Seungcheol remembered that Woozi was a demon, from hell; a cute demon, but a demon nonetheless... He was cute in a way you might see a baby kitten or something, though, not like-

“Is there something on my face?” Seungcheol’s face went red when he realized he had been staring. He turned away and directed his gaze at a wall, willing his heart to stop beating so quickly. Woozi quirked his head to the side in a questioning manner, and Seungcheol felt his heart ache at the sight. It was adorable, why the hell did this demon have to have such a loveable appearance? Weren't they supposed to look ugly and threatening?

“No, I… Nothing. Just stay in here for now, hide under my bed or some-“

“Seungcheol, what’s taking so long?” Seungcheol pulled Woozi towards him swiftly, holding his hand firmly against the boy’s mouth to keep him quiet.

“I’ll be out in a second!” The short demon struggled against his firm hold, feeling uncomfortable being pushed with his back flush against Seungcheol’s chest, not to mention he couldn't really breath when Seungcheol was covering his mouth and nose like this.

“Okay, don’t forget the marshmallows…” Jeonghan sighed, moving his hand away from the doorknob hesitantly. Who was Seungcheol talking to? First the black magic incident, and now he was harboring people and hiding them under his bed? What could be going on with his idiot friend? He reached out to the doorknob again, but pulled away before he could turn the knob, clenching his fists in frustration. No, Jeonghan wasn’t going to butt into Seungcheol’s secret business. He had patience; he would just wait for him to say it himself. He turned his back to the door with a heavy heart, and headed back outside.

Seungcheol leaned his ear against the door and listened to ensure Jeonghan was gone. The footsteps faded until he heard nothing but silence, and the muffled sound of Woozi, mumbling angrily under his ha-

“Augh!” Seungcheol pulled his hand away in pain, cradling his sore palm. “You bit me!”

“I couldn’t breathe!” Woozi was red in the face and gasping for air. Seungcheol looked down at his own hand in concern.

“I’m bleeding, Jesus, how sharp are your teeth??” Woozi scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

“I have canines; they come out as a biological defense mechanism when I’m in danger. You almost killed me with your big sweaty hands, so I just did what was natural, don’t be such a fucking baby.” Seungcheol sucked on the puncture wounds with a frown.

“Canines? What are you, a dog?”

“I’m in no way related to a dog, that’s racist!” Seungcheol looked over at Woozi in surprise, eyeing the boy who watched him with a serious and angry expression. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of what he'd just heard. “Wha… Why are you laughing?”

“Sorry Woozi just… god, okay. I need to go before everyone comes to check on me. Hide under my bed for a while. I’ll be back in a couple hours, after everyone leaves, so don’t come out no matter what, understand?” Woozi nodded, still a little confused.

Seungcheol patted him on the back, smiling. “Sorry, just stay put for now. I’ll try to send them home as fast as I can.” Woozi nodded again, staying oddly quiet, compared to his usual responces of whitty retorts and foul language. Seungcheol left the room with his smile still in place, and shut the door behind him, feeling relieved.

Jihoon lifted his hand up to cup his cheek, which was warm to the touch. His heart was thumping fast as well, and he stared at the door feeling conflicted. The pink-haired boy shook his head in an attempt to push aside the odd feelings in his chest aside, and crawled underneath the king-sized bed as he had been told.

The floor was wooden, and right next to his head laid a vent that was pushing out cold air into the space around him, he curled up in an attempt to stay warm. Thoughts were running through his head, though he dwelt on one specifically.

Was he every going to get to sleep in a real bed again?


	3. What Do Demon's Eat?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol's dumb, Jeonghan's confused, and all Woozi wants is a goddamn snack

It had to have been at least three hours before Seungcheol returned. Of course, when you’re shivering and lying uncomfortably against a wooden floor, cursing the universe, it would feel like it was a lot longer.

He twitched his head up and watched as the door flung open, and shut loudly. Footsteps trudged clumsily towards the bed; stumbling and crashing his foot against the wooden leg painfully.

“Ah, fuck!” Seungcheol jumped up and down a little, and Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows at the odd behavior.

Seungcheol’s seemed to wobble from side-to-side blindly, until he finally found his way to the edge of the bed, practically falling onto it, and pulling himself under the blankets.

The springs in the matress above Jihoon’s head creaked at the new weight on top of it, and Jihoon watched the mattress shift as Seungcheol seemed to be getting comfortable. Had he forgotten about the poor, abused demon hiding under his bed on the cold floor, or was he just being an asshole? Jihoon scooted over just enough to peek up from underneath the bed, eyeing a stray hand hanging off the side, swaying like a pendulum.

The boy looked around the room, hearing nothing but the sound of Seungcheol’s obnoxiously loud breathing, and decided it would be safe to come out for a bit. He stood up and wiped the dust from his pants, before turning towards Seungcheol with a scowl.

This asshole, was he asleep? Jihoon leaned into the boys face, feeling just a little betrayed at the sight. His cheeks were tinted red, and he had a goofy smile on his face as he snored out each deep breath. Jihoon shook him lightly, and leaned into his face to whisper.

“Seungcheol?...”

He backed his head away in disgust when Seungcheol breathed out a puff of hot air in Jihoon’s direction. His breath smelled bitter, like alcohol... Of-fucking-course this bastard was drunk, he _just_  had to get intoxicated enough to forget about Jihoon. No, this was not happening, there was no way he was sleeping on the floor. Jihoon shook him again, harder, slapping him against the face, just hard enough to get his attention. “Yah! Wake up, you asshole!”

Seungcheol opened his eyes slightly, immediately recognizing the angry face above him. “Woozi?... wha-.. what are ya doin?”

He had the stupidest expression of innocence on his face, and Jihoon felt the need to punch it off of him.

“Did you seriously forget? God, why did I have to be bonded to such an imbecile?” Seungcheol watched drowsily as Woozi ran his hand through his pretty pink hair, sighing.  He chuckled, and Woozi shot him a dirty look.

“This isn’t funny, dipshit.”

“Is that your natural hair color?” He slurred.

This guy really was an idiot. Jihoon felt his last shred of hope fade away as Seungcheol stared at him with that same dumb expression, implying he was being serious about the question he’d just asked.

“You’re the first human I’ve met, but I honestly can’t understand how your species has survived all this time. Of course it’s not, dumbass. Does pink really seem like the kind of hair color you’d associate with a demon?”

Seungcheol shrugged. “I don’t know, you pull it off pre’y well.”

Jihoon looked away from the boys gaze, staring at a wall instead. “Not the point, dickhead, it’s just not a demonic color…” He pointed to his hair with a frown. “This was my father’s idea of a punishment. It’s magical and permanent, and I’ve tried everything I know to fix it, but it just won’t fucking change back…”

Seungcheol grinned like the idiot he was proving himself to be. “It’s pretty, don’t change it.”

“Shut the fuck up and bring me downstairs like you were supposed to in the first place. I never thought I would say this, but I’d rather sleep in that wardrobe again than on your cold-ass floor in here.” Jihoon felt his face heating up in embarrassment at Seungcheol’s comment, but ignored it for the sake of securing his safety.

The human seemed to look off to think for a moment, before closing his eyes and pouting like a child. “…’m too tired… not right now.” He pulled his blanket up further and began to doze off, while Jihoon shook him desperately.

“Seungcheol, are you fucking serious? Weren’t you the one worrying over me being found a couple hours ago?” God, why do humans drink? It seems to drain them of any common-sense!... Not that they had much to start out with in the first place. “What am I supposed to do if you fall asleep?”

“Jus’ sleep here and be quiet, you're giv’n me a headache..” Jihoon yelped in shock when Seungcheol pulled him by the wrist onto the bed, the boy’s smaller frame flopping over Seungcheol’s stomach. He adjusted the startled demon around until he was lying under the blanket beside him, completely confused and utterly infuriated.

“What the fu- ah!” The intoxicated boy quieted him by pulling the demon into his chest, wrapping both arms around the smaller boy tightly. Jihoon seemed to freeze in shock; staring wide-eyed at Seungcheol, who was already drifting back to sleep. “S-Seungcheol, I..” He struggled, but apparently drunken and sleepy, this human had an iron grip. It was useless. “What if your roommate walks in?”

Asking was pointless too apparently, as Seungcheol began to snore steadily with his nose nuzzled into Woozi’s hair. After another minute of struggling, he felt himself growing tired...

He sighed, staring up at the ceiling. Seungcheol’s bed was much more warm and comfortable than his floor. He felt his eyes drooping shut, and shook his head in an attempt to stay awake. There was no way, no fucking way he was going to fall asleep with Seungcheol wrapped around him like a snake… even if he was… really tired…

Despite his best efforts to keep his eyes open, they eventually fluttered shut, and Jihoon drifted off to sleep.

~

Seungcheol’s head began to pound as his morning alarm blared, and he quickly threw his hand down on the obnoxious machine to cease its noise. His eyes felt crusty, and his whole body was sweaty and warm. He rubbed his palms over his tired face and thought back to last night, grimacing at the vague memories flashing through his head. He remembered going outside, and roasting marshmallows... Then they started playing some dumb drinking game Soonyoung had made up, and 13 shots later… that’s it, everything else is blank. He vaguely remembered dancing to AOA in front of his neighbors open window, but he also kind of hoped that had just been a nightmare.

He stretched his limbs with a yawn, quirking his eyebrow as he suddenly noticed that he was much more than just "warm." He felt sweaty, like there was a heated blanket wrapped around his body.

Seungcheol lifted the blanket to reveal something he’d never believed he would ever see in his life. There, with his pudgy round face squished against Seungcheol’s belly, and his short arms wrapped tightly around his waist, was Woozi. The little demon with a foul mouth and horns to match was cuddling with him under the blankets, sound asleep.

Seungcheol was in shock, and he willed his mind to remember what he had done for this to happen. Wasn’t he supposed to have taken Woozi back to the basement?.... 

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the most predictable drunk, but he would have thought he’d had enough sense to do that, at least! Woozi sighed in his sleep, nuzzling his face against Seungcheol shirt. He felt his heart leap at the sight.

With his mouth closed, the little guy was really too cute... But now was not the time to admire his sleeping face! Even though Woozi’s cheeks were flushed red, and there was just the slightest hint of a smile on his lips, and... God.

This was not okay.

He kept the blanket lifted with one hand, and gently shook the snoozing demon with the other. “Woozi, wake up…” He shook a little harder, patting the boys face lightly, and Woozi began to stir.

“hmmm emn mrr mnts” The boy was mumbling nonsense with his face against Seungcheol’s stomach. Seungcheol continued to shake him, until the demon lifted his face and cracked a tired eye open, looking around in confusion.

He seemed to realize what was going on quickly, as the boy jumped up into a sitting position, and wiped away the drool from his chin in embarrassment.

“Woozi, why are you in my bed?” The demons face went red at that, his brief expression of surprise replaced with one of pure fury.

It was nice while it had lasted, he supposed.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Despite the tough front he put on, Seungcheol could see his tail curling nervously in his own hand. It was a little strange how Woozi expressed his emotions through his tail, though he supposed he should learn to stop being surprised by the demon at this point. “You came back yesterday, drunk, and put me in a headlock before falling asleep. I was forced to smell your awful alcoholic breath for an entire night, you dickhead, so that’s why I’m in your dumb bed... Not to mention you snore like a dying cow, and you ask idiotic questions when you’re drunk...”

“Watch your voice, Jesus. Might I remind you that you’re still supposed to be a secret?” Woozi shifted so that he was sitting on his knees, still positioned between Seungcheol’s legs and underneath his blanket. These past couple days had to have been the strangest thing that’s ever happened to him. There was literally a demon in his bed.

“Seungcheol, are you awake?” Jeonghan knocked on the door politely.

“Augh!”He yelped as Seungcheol shoved Woozi down so that he was flat against his stomach again, trying to eliminate the obvious human-sized bump in the blanket, and pulled the sheets back over himself. He placed his hands on his lap; partially to look casual, but also to hold Woozi’s head down and keep the moody demon from sitting up suddenly.

“Yeah, I’m awake!” Jeonghan opened the door, immediately giving Seungcheol an odd look.

“I, uh… breakfast is ready. I’ll… give you some privacy…” He closed the door again, and Seungcheol raised an eyebrow. Wait, was Woozi that obvious? Did Jeonghan notice? He looked down at his lap, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. Woozi’s tail had lifted up the blankets, conveniently close to his crotch, making it look like he might have some... "morning business" to deal with.

He sighed, leaning his head against the headboard of the bed. What a mess his life was turning into, all because of this whole d-

“Ah, fuck!” He jumped back in the bed, knocking his head against the wood behind him. “Seriously? What’s with demons and biting people?” He lifted his shirt to look at his stomach, where there was blood beading out from two puncture wounds, paired with a couple bruises in the shape of molars. Yup, this thing was definitely a demon.

“Quit treating me like an inanimate object if you don’t want to get bitten, dick. You smell like shit, go shower before you hold me anywhere near your dirty human body.” Woozi backed up as far as he could without falling off the bed, his face scrunched up in displeasure.

Seungcheol got up feeling offended. This would be the second night in a row that he’d woken up next to someone unexpected, and smelling like death. “Fine, I won’t, but that means you need to start listening to me. You’re going in the basement, and you’re not coming up no matter what, okay?”

Woozi huffed out in annoyance, sitting on the edge of Seungcheol’s bed. “You can’t keep me in the basement forever you know; you need to start working on that reversal spell. I’m not going to hide in your wardrobe and pretend to be your secret pet while you fuck around doing jack-shit.”

He sighed. “Okay, I’ll try to figure something out today, Just… Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. When Han and I leave, you can head into the basement and **stay** there until I get back. I’ll try to do some research today… Maybe I’ll find something to help us out.” Woozi nodded hesitantly, and Seungcheol patted him on the shoulder in an encouraging manner.

“Coups! We’re going to be late!”

“Shit, okay I gotta run Woozi.” Seungcheol threw off his clothes and started changing into his school uniform. Woozi looked away, opting to stare at a wall in his embarrassment. “See you in a while.” Seungcheol waved bye to Woozi, who ignored him. He took notice with a quick glance, that the bundle of mood-swings was in the same dirty pajamas he’d been wearing since he got here; he’d have to remember to give him a change of clothes later.

“Seungcheol!”

“I’m coming!”

Seungcheol ran out the door with a bag slung over his shoulder, and Jihoon was left alone once again. He slumped down on the bed with an irritated sigh. Why did he have to be summoned by such a dumbass?

A low grumbling sounded through the vacant room, and Jihoon placed his hand over his empty belly with a frown.

Would he at least be smart enough to feed him, though?

~

Seungcheol yawned, watching a squirrel pick through a pile of crumbs outside the window he was currently staring out. He was trying to think, despite his teachers loud ramblings making it rather difficult to do so. What was he going to do? He didn’t even know where to start with figuring out the reversal spell. Seungcheol couldn’t even get basic Latin down, let alone decipher an unknown language written in code... The only person he knew who had any basic of understanding of languages was Jisoo; he spoke fluent Korean, Latin, and English. If anyone would be able to figure it out, it’d be him, but there was no way for him to ask for help. What would he say? ‘Hey I accidentally summoned a demon from hell and I need you to decipher this spell so I can send him back, please don’t call the police.’ No, Jisoo was Christian, a good kid, plus he was studying to become an assistant priest. If anything, he’d probably just try to kill Woozi and exorcise the spirits possessing Seungcheol’s body.

He breathed out in frustration. In a way, he wished he could just tell someone, but he had a nagging fear that no one would listen to him. It was an absurd story, he honestly couldn't believe it himself.

“That’s it for today, everyone. I’m sure you all got the email I sent out, but in case you didn’t, I am having an extra class in the main lecture hall that you may be interested in.” Seungcheol snickered. It was funny how Mr. Lee still believed people listened to him. Why would anyone want to sign up for extra time with that boring ass-

“The class will be an informational lecture on demons. Specifically, different types of demons. Many students’s asked that I cover the topic, so although it is not part of my curriculum, I decided to indulge their requests. It will be after lunch today and if anyone’s interested, feel free to join in.”

Seungcheol bit his cheek, feeling conflicted. Maybe the first step to solving his problem could start with this? Aside from the fact that Woozi was a demon, Seungcheol didn’t really know anything about him. Woozi wouldn’t even tell him his real name, so there was no way he’d say him anything else about himself… well, if Woozi wouldn’t tell him, Seungcheol would just have to figure it out himself.

 He stood from his chair and followed after Jeonghan into the rotunda. “Hey, Jeonghan, I’m not going to be in the library after lunch, I’m going to Mr. Lee’s seminar.”

Jeonghan turned to him with a bewildered expression, stopping in his tracks. “You… You’re willingly going to an extra class? _Mr. Lee’s_ extra class?”

Seungcheol scratched his head, chuckling awkwardly. “Yeah I… Thought it looked interesting.”

Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong with Seungcheol. Black magic, people hiding under his bed, and now he _wanted_ to learn magic? Someone was probably wearing  Seungcheol’s skin and pretending to be him, this was not the Seungcheol he knew. “I won’t wait up for you after school then, I guess?…”

“Yup. Let’s grab some lunch; I’m starving.”

~

Seungcheol sat down in the lecture hall, somewhere near the back, hoping Mr. Lee wouldn’t draw attention to his unprecedented appearance. There weren’t many people besides himself; a group of girls giggling near the front, a few people sitting by themselves here and there, and… ugh, Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was sitting further back from Seungcheol, on the other side of the room in a corner in his lonesome. Maybe all those rumors about him being a bad omen were true. Nothing but awful things had happened to him since bumping into him the other day….

Seungcheol looked away quickly when Kyungsoo turned towards him, feeling his palms go sweaty. He hoped to god Kyungsoo wasn’t the reason for his misfortune, or else he was probably going to die in seven days or something.

“Thank you to everyone that came today, it’s nice to see that you are interested in learning things outside of general magic study.” Seungcheol scoffed. Honestly, he was just interested in learning anything other than magic.

Mr. Lee turned on the presentation screen, displaying in large bold text, ‘A study In Demons’. Honestly, Seungcheol hadn’t been very interested in demons before, so he hadn’t really realized there were a variety of them. He kind of just thought they all came in the same shade of huge and aggressive; though Woozi crushed that stereotype pretty quickly.

“Before we get into this, I would just like to remind everyone that our knowledge of demons and the underworld is rather vague. Only historical cases of the use of black magic in war, or scientifically documented experiments done in the past, offer us valid information.” Okay so basically all of this stuff could be real or bullshit, but Seungcheol had no other choice but to believe it.

“While demons are generally split into distinct types, there have been recorded cases of Demons being a mix of two, so it is likely that the combinations of different demon species could be infinite. I will only be covering purebred species today, or else this class would go on forever.” Purebred? Maybe demons really were dogs… 

The screen changed into a picture of a true monster, ripped and angry with red glowing eyes. “Here is an artistic rendition of one of the most common species of demon. They are known to be aggressive, strong, and often times twice the size of the average human.” Definitely not Woozi, at least we’ve narrowed it down by one. “This type is fittingly named ‘Illia-Fortitudo’, meaning ‘immeasurable strength.’ This demon is the most commonly known to us because it fits into the most basic demon stereotype human’s have generated: Monstrous and powerful. A real documented case involving this type was done by a German scientist in the early 1500’s. He used one of the earliest forms of black magic, a child sacrifice, to summon a demon with the intention of using it for revenge against a known murderer. He recorded his study of the demon in a journal, but died prematurely at the hand of said demon 10 days into his research. While they are generally willing to do demonic tasks-in exchange for the right sacrifice- they are unpredictable, and multiple cases like this have ended in the death of the human charge.”

Okay so this type was exactly he’d expected Woozi to be? Seungcheol sketched down a couple notes for reference later on.

“The next type, while not as common as the Illia-Fortitudo, is found most popularly in the media. You may have watched fictional shows in the past where someone buries a bag of offerings at a crossroad, or sticks some blood and hair at a shrine, and a demon pops up offering them a deal, yes?” He changed the slide again, switching to a picture of a generic man in a suit? “Well, these things are real. They appear completely human, which is meant to make whichever human summoning them feel they can trust them, subconsciously. The only distinct difference might be their eyes, as it is said they are either black, red, or yellow. They are called ‘mortis vinctos’ meaning ‘death bound’, more commonly referred to as ‘cross-road demons.’ As their stereotypical portrayal in movies and fairytales implies, their purpose as demons is to collect human souls for hells use, though we are not certain what the souls are used for exactly.” Seungcheol was suddenly really glad that Woozi had horns and a tail. Cross road demons looked completely human, so Woozi probably wasn’t collecting his soul and taking him to hell later on, thankfully. “There is not much else to say about this type. They are called the salespeople of the underworld, since they are known to be sharp-tongued and dangerously persuasive. Humans generally have been known to summon them for a push in life. Sudden fortune, finding true love, bringing someone back from the dead, crossroad demons cover it all; if you’re willing to pay. While the price varies, most commonly it is said that your wish will be granted for a number of years before the demon returns to drag you to hell.”

 The teacher went on to explain a few more species: formam informi; a shape shifter demon known to devour human bodies and take over their lives, blending into human society, commonly used to get rid of someone without anyone noticing they’re gone. Then there was mes comprehendat; which upon consent will enter the body of a human and use them as a host, giving the human immeasurable power at the price of the demon being able to use the body whenever it wants to. None of them seemed like Woozi, honestly. Woozi was small (and pretty weak, based on his experience) with a foul mouth and pink hair, plus seemingly zero motive to kill or possess anyone (aside from the occasional bite.) Seungcheol tapped his pen in frustration. This was useless.

“Does anyone know the most basic way to summon a demon?” Seungcheol quirked his head up in interest at that, licking his lips nervously. “Trick question, it’s illegal, so none of you should know.” 

A few people in the room chuckled, but Seungcheol was not amused, not in the slightest.

“The most basic summoning of a demon, it’s kind of like rolling a dice of chance. Because the spell is not specific to one species of demon, the outcome will be whatever your subconscious yearns for. If you wish for ruthless, murderous revenge, Illia-Fortitudo will likely appear. If you desire riches and you have an open mind about spending an eternity in hell, a cross-roads demon is your best bet. I’m saying this, because this last species is one most people would probably be embarrassed to admit to summoning, if it were legal to do so.” Seungcheol quirked an eyebrow at that. Embarrassed? He supposed if someone was hoping for a buff puff of demon rage like illia-fortitudo, and a tiny thing like Woozi showed up you might be a little embarrassed? “Demons abide to the rules of the seven deadly sins; Greed, envy, wrath, sloth, gluttony, pride, and of course, lust.” 

Seungcheol’s eyes widened as the screen changed, displaying a beautiful woman with horns and a tail, posing scandalously.

“We’re running out of time, so this will be the last one I talk about. ‘exhaurie passionis’ is a demon that feeds on the sexual desire and satisfaction of humans; more commonly known as a succubus or an incubus. While it is more common that they prey on unsuspecting humans and possess them to acquire what they need, there have been cases where a human summons them willingly. The human gets sexual satisfaction, and the incubus or succubus feeds on their pleasure. There have also been recorded cases in the past that involve an incubus killing the human after they feed as well, but it is a rare event. Incubus’ are known to be generally docile, and simply desire sexual energy. They appear human, but with demonic traits such as horns and a tail. They are also said to be inhumanely beautiful, for the sake of seducing humans into love-making. I won’t get into the details of how they feed, but-” the sound of the bell rung throughout the room, and people began to get up to leave. “Everyone is dismissed, if there are any questions regarding this topic I’m more than happy to answer them.”

Seungcheol stayed in his seat, staring at the picture on the display screen. Human-looking but with demonic traits: check, generally docile: check, inhumanely beautiful?... He supposed being inhumanely cute wasn’t that different?

He was in shock. The spell he had used hadn’t said anything about what kind of demon he’d been summoning, so it must have been a general spell... Was Seungcheol really that sex deprived? Yeah, he supposed it had been a while since he’d done it with someone, but it wasn’t like he was desperate… And if that was the case, why did someone like Woozi show up? Shouldn’t it have been a tall, seductive, _female_ demon?

Woozi was cute, he’s not going to lie, but he was also very much male. Then there was also the whole… food thing. He hadn’t thought about what demons ate, and now that he thought about it Woozi hadn’t eaten anything since Seungcheol summoned him (whoops, though Seungcheol had never been that great at keeping pets.) If Woozi was an incubus, and that’s a big if… What was he going to do when he got hungry?

Eventually he got up from his desk, gathered his things, and headed outside. On the bus ride home his mind was loud, his thoughts ceaseless.

Woozi could be an incubus, and he could also currently be a hungry incubus. Woozi was his responsibility, so he would have to… help him, right? God but there was also the fact that he was a _he_ , how would that work?

Seungcheol ruffled his hair in frustration, staring down at the notes he’d taken. It was fine, how often could demons get hungry? Maybe it was a once a century kind of thing, he might be worrying about this for nothing…. Speaking of centuries, Woozi looked pretty young too, how old was he? He could technically be like 500 years old, but he looked about 15... oh god, what if he was 15??

Seungcheol rubbed his eyes, feeling more drained every second he thought about this. He would just have to talk to Woozi about it later on.

He fumbled with his keys, throwing the door open with a sigh.

“How was the seminar?” Jeonghan was standing at his usual spot in the kitchen, cutting vegetables idly.

“It was… something else, I guess. What can I say, it was Mr. Lee.” He chuckled. “I’m going to do some homework downstairs for a bit, call me up when dinners ready?” Jeonghan was worried, obviously. At this point he felt like he couldn’t leave Seungcheol alone for a second. He clenched the knife in his hand against the cutting board.

“Sure thing, Coups.”

“Thanks!” Seungcheol ran into his room first, rummaging through his drawers for anything that might fit Woozi. Sweater that had shrunk in the wash? That might work, but all of his pants were probably twice the size of him… His soccer shorts had a drawstring though, so he can just… Tie them on? This was ridiculous; he’d have to go shopping later.

Seungcheol gathered the clothing and headed down the basement, feeling oddly nervous. Hopefully this time Woozi would actually be where he was supposed to be. He opened the wardrobe slowly, the joints in the wood creaking slightly, and breathed out in relief. Woozi was curled up in the corner of the wardrobe with one of Seungcheol’s old jackets wrapped around him for warmth. He was adorable, completely and utterly precious, and Seungcheol felt his heart aching as he watched the boy snoring peacefully. He swallowed his emotions and shook the sleeping demon awake, gently. “Woozi, wake up…”

Woozi cracked an eye open at Seungcheol, before sitting up tiredly, yawning. “What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? I brought you a change of clothes.” Woozi got up and out of his hiding spot, feeling dazed. Seungcheol handed him the clothes awkwardly, willing his heart to be quiet.

“This isn’t going to fit me, douche-wad, it’s five times my fucking size.” He was not cute, definitely not cute, not with that mouth at least.

“Be grateful, it’s all I could find. I’ll buy you clothes later so bear with it for now.” 

Woozi grumbled incoherently, turning around to get changed. He peeked back at Seungcheol with a sour expression. “…Do you mind?”

Seungcheol whipped around to face the wall, feeling his heart jumping nervously against his chest. He waited a minute like that, attempting to stop his thoughts from running wild. 

“I’m done.”

Seungcheol turned around and felt his mind collapse completely. Yes, the clothing was five times his size and the sweater was basically a dress on him, but that didn’t mean he looked any less precious in it. It was like every guys dream to see their girlfriend wearing their clothes... Except Woozi was a male demon- and Seungcheol should really stop having thoughts like this. 

Woozi sat down in the chair by Seungcheol’s desk, tugging at the long sleeves of his sweater idly. “Did you do any research today?”

“Kind of… I think I know what type of a spell it was, at least.”

He scoffed. “Oh?”

“yeah it’s like a… General demon summoning spell, not specific to one type… Or something.”

“Well that’s obvious, dipshit. I’m pretty sure there’s no spells designed to summon a demon like me.” 

Seungcheol gulped. There was definitely, probably, some spells meant for that.

He crossed his arms, scowling. “Anything else? or did you really just waste the entire day learning bullshit we already know?”

“Hey, I don’t even know where to start with this thing, It’s not like I practice black magic every Wednesday night for fun."

“Then why did you have a black magic book? Figure that out first, idiot.”

Seungcheol ran a hand through his hair, annoyed. “Fuck, I don’t know, Woozi. I can’t remember how it's even possible for me to have it, or else don’t you think I would have done something about it by now?”

Woozi breathed out in frustration. “Fine, whatever, I just don’t feel like sleeping in your Wardrobe anymore. I’m going to break my neck if you keep sticking me wherever I’m hidden and leaving for hours every day. Where do you even go?”

Oh? Well, he supposed Woozi didn’t know any more about Seungcheol than Seungcheol knew about Woozi. They were both pretty much in the dark on both ends. Seungcheol opened his mouth to answer, but was abruptly interrupted by a low grumbling coming from the pink-haired demon.

He looked away, his hand on his stomach, with an embarrassed expression. “Uh, by the way… I’m hungry; do you think I could have something to eat?”

Seungcheol went still, staring at a wall with a shocked expression. It was now or never Coups; give him what he needs or let your demon starve, what’s it going to be? He took a deep shuddery breath before turning back to Woozi with a determined face. His demon, his responsibility, his problem; his mind was made up. He stepped toward the boy, who was looking just a little confused.

“What?”

“I’ll feed you… But, uh… How does this work? Do we have to have sex or something? Or just-” Woozi's face went flushed as he fell backwards in his chair, hitting the concrete ground with a pained yelp.

“Ow! jesus, what?!” 

Seungcheol was in shock, moving to help Woozi up, who backed away in fear.

“I thought you said no weird stuff! You definitely agreed to no weird stuff, and this is weird stuff! What, I need to have sex with you to eat now? Is that how you roll? God I should have known this was going to turn weird, you were way too nice for a human.” Woozi was still trying to crawl away, as Seungcheol's mind blared in confusion. So that’s what he’d meant by weird stuff? Did this also mean he wasn’t an incubus?

Woozi got to the stairs and turned around on one of the steps, freezing in place when he spotted a familiar head of long silver hair standing before him, wide-eyed.

“Seungcheol… who… what the hell is that?”


	4. Getting to Know Your Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woozi's opinions on humans become increasingly conflicted, Jeonghan is an angel, and all Seungcheol wants is some god dang respect in this house.

Jeonghan took the pot off the stove carefully and turned off the heat, leaning against the counter with a sigh. He thought up a list in his head of possible culprits to Seungcheol’s sudden change in character. Gangs? Maybe someone was blackmailing him?... No, this was a pretty goody-goody town they lived in, the only ‘gang’ he knew of was maybe Jisoo’s charity group, since they weren’t government funded. Bullies, maybe? No, Seungcheol was pretty prestigious. People outside their circle generally stayed clear of the town’s infamous ‘hero’.

Though Jeonghan and his friends understood the truth about their lazy magic-hating hyung, most others believed he was a prodigy; destined to make magical history.

He blew away the stray hairs intruding his thinking space, staring at the silver locks with furrowed brows. Why couldn’t Seungcheol just tell him already? Did he really not trust him? It was so ridiculously depressing to think that Seungcheol would rather hide the truth than ask him for help.  Wasn’t he his best friend? Or-

Jeonghan ceased his thoughts and whipped around at a crashing sound coming from downstairs, followed by what seemed to be a lot of yelling.

Okay... Forget it. No more Mr. ‘mind your own business’; it was time to get to the bottom of this.

He threw the door to the basement open quickly, his heart pounding out of his chest as the yelling became clearer, louder. And that was definitely not Seungcheol’s voice. On the last step he halted, meeting eyes with a pink haired boy who seemed to be crawling towards him.

“Seungcheol.. who…” That… that is not human… “What the hell is that?” It had ebony horns, very clearly sticking out from strands of bright pink hair. Jeonghan flinched his leg away from a tickling sensation, and looked down further to see a black, fury tail squirming by his feet. He glanced up from the thing below him, staring shocked at a frozen Seungcheol; who seemed to be a strange mixture of panicked and guilty at the moment.

“J- Jeonghan I… I can explain..” He stepped forward with his arm outstretched, and Jeonghan watched as the monster at his feet seemed to try to curl up against the step, as if trying to escape Seungcheol's approach. It looked up with round eyes at Jeonghan, who was making an expression of pure disbelief over this whole situation. Just what kind of a mess has Seungcheol gotten himself into?

“Then explain… I asked what the hell this is.” He was looking at the pink-haired monster as he said this, who finally looked away and swallowed nervously.

“He’s… Woozi, he’s a demon.” Jeonghan shot back up at Seungcheol, who at this point was acting far too guilty, as opposed to being shocked and scared over the fact that there was a fucking demon in the room. How long had it been here? Was this who he had been talking to before? The one hiding under his bed?

“A demon…” his eyes darted back, watching the demon avoid the gaze of everyone in the room with a panicked expression. Was he scared? How absurd, wasn’t he a demon? Shouldn't demons be terrifying and ugly? This guy seemed to be a lot closer to a frightened kitten, than a disgusting monster from the pits of hell. “Woozi?” The demons eyes flickered up tentatively at the mention of the name, and in that instance Jeonghan remembered.

Woozi: the burn on Seungcheol’s chest, the black magic… This was it? The black magic he'd performed had been a demon summoning?

Jihoon clenched his hands against the grain of the floor. On one side of him was Seungcheol; the pervert he was bonded to, who was apparently trying to get him to pay for food with sexual favors. On the other side was Mrs. Silver hair; who was probably getting ready to jump to the phone and call up the military. He was dead, a situation he should be used to being in by now, completely and undeniably dead. He had to do something; speak up and convince this person to help him. Seungcheol had taken his side pretty quickly before, so maybe his roommate was one-in-the same? 

He swallowed thickly, looking up towards silver-hair with the most pleading look he could conjure up.

She looked down at him with eyes that almost seemed calm, surprisingly so... Woozi found himself caught off gaurd.

This person was incredibly ethereal and beautiful, for a human.

“Jeonghan, please, you can’t tell anyone about this.” Seungcheol was on his knees now, pleading with him. For the first time in the years that Jeonghan had known him, Seungcheol was literally begging. This was a very, very serious matter.

“Who would I tell, dummy?” He attempted a smile, though the shock of the matter still had him pretty shaken up. “Just… you need to explain. Everything, right now.” Seungcheol and Woozi exchanged looks with each other, before he looked back to Jeonghan, nodding in agreement.

The three of them moved out of the damp dark depths of Seungcheol’s basement into a calmer environment, sitting around the dining room table like a hypothetically happy family. Woozi had continued to be silent, as odd as it seemed considering his usual persona, situated on a wooden chair in the middle of the most awkward conversation he believed he'd ever been a part of.

“So what you’re saying is… You accidentally summoned a demon with a black magic book….”

“Yeah.”

“And… you need to decipher a spell from that book to send,” he looked towards the silent demon with an incredulous look, “Woozi, back to hell.”

“That’s right.”

“Okay, I believe you.”

Seungcheol raised his guilty-hanging head in surprise. “What, seriously?”

Jeonghan crossed his arms over his chest, his expression soft. “I mean, I already kind of knew about the black magic.” The naïve older boy gaped. “Oh come on, Coups. Might I remind you that I’m the one who healed you after that mess? Blood, demonic sigils, deadly side effects that had you coughing up blood and fainting; anyone who paid half of their attention in class would have been able to tell it was black magic.”

“But... you acted normal! Why didn’t you say something?” Jeonghan rolled his eyes.

“What was I supposed to say?”

“I don’t know, maybe ‘hey Coups I know that you’re a criminal who’s harboring a demon illegally, just a heads up’. Or just something! Do you know how stressed I’ve been over this?”

Jeonghan pushed his long hair back in frustration. “Do you know how worried I’ve been?? You, my best friend and roommate, have been keeping this whole ordeal a secret from me! As if you didn’t trust me! Do you not trust me?”

“Of course I do, But I didn’t!-“

Woozi slammed his hands down on the table, fed up with all the back-and-fourth yelling he was stuck in the middle of. “What, am I invisible here?! Do you humans ever shut the fuck up? Honestly, what in the hell is blowing out my eardrums with your obnoxious bickering going to solve!?”

Seungcheol sat back into his chair with an apologetic look, and Jeonghan stared at the demon in surprise. The little thing had one hell of a mouth on him. He had been starting to believe he was mute or something.

“No matter how much you flap your gums at each other like brainless monkeys, this problem isn’t going to just fuck off and fix itself. Maybe instead of arguing, we can appreciate a new head at the table." He was glaring at Seungcheol as he said this, motioning to Jeonghan with exasperated gestures. "This human probably has more brains than you, at least, so maybe they can help us get somewhere with this fucking spell.” Woozi crossed his arms over his chest tightly, after getting his word in, huffing.

“Yah!”

Okay... maybe Woozi was kind of right. Seungcheol knew next-to nothing about this whole demon spell deciphering business, plus Jeonghan was the only calm-headed person in this house, so... maybe being discovered could be a good thing? Either way, he really needed to teach this kid some manners. “Watch your language, Woozi! Honestly.”

Jeonghan began to chuckle, his face red in an attempt to hold back his laughter.

“Wha-… what’s so funny?” Woozi looked at long-hair with a perturbed expression.

“Sorry...” He took a few deep breaths to gain control over himself again. “Just, you’re really cute; not what I imagined a demon to look like at all. And god, I can't believe you just got told off by your own demon, Coups... Woozi, you're hilarious.”

The demons face went red, his tail curling around the leg of the chair he was sitting in. “Wh- what?”

Seungcheol gaped at Woozi in surprise, watching the mouthy little thing curl up in embarrassment. One word from Jeonghan and the kid acted like a blushing schoolgirl standing before her senior, this brat.

“How tall are you? You can’t be more than 5”3 or something.”

“Shut up! My height is not the issue here...  And I’m 5”4…”

Jeonghan ruffled his pink hair lovingly, chuckling at his response, and provoking a murderous glare from Mr. 5”4. “You’re really funny. Are all demons like you?”

Woozi looked away with his eyebrows furrowed, his hands curling up in his lap. “No…”

“Oh? So you’re one of a kind then, huh? What kind of a demon are you?”

Seungcheol cleared his throat loudly. “Han, isn’t that a little-”

“What, aren’t you curious? Seungcheol we have a real live demon living in our house! Not a picture in a textbook, or a CG animated documentary. Don’t you have any questions?” Seungcheol looked over to Woozi curiously, watching the boy’s eyes flicker down to his lap to avoid his gaze.

“He won’t even tell me his real name; I doubt he’d answer any other questions, personal or not.”

“I’m right here, dickhead, a-”

The two boys looked over to Woozi as a low grumbling sounded throughout the room. The demon placed a hand over his stomach with an embarrassed expression.

Jeonghan chuckled. “How about this then, Woozi. If you answer a few of my questions, you can have some dinner. Assuming demons can eat Gimpap?”

Seungcheol scoffed. “That’s not going to-“

“Deal.”

“Huh? Just like that you’re going to tell us everything? For food?” He gaped at the boy, who was acting strangely nonchalant.

Woozi shrugged. “I’m hungry, and his food offering sounds a lot better than yours.”

Seungcheol felt his cheeks warm up at the unfortunate reminder. “I… That was a misunderstanding! I thought…”

  
Jeonghan cut him off before another argument could begin. “What species of demon are you?” He got up from the table to grab a piece of paper and a pen, looking to Woozi expectantly.

“My mom is a succubus/necromancer cross and my father is a Naga/kasha mix. I have most of my mother’s incubus features, some of her necromancer traits, but none of her abilities. I have hardly any of my father’s features, but some of his abilities.” Jihoon played with the hem of his sweater awkwardly. Yeah, both his parents were half-blooded and a mix of some amazing species, but all he got out of it was some feline traits and a human body. He was pretty much useless, demon-wise. “There really isn’t a name for my species, since I’m extremely mixed, but personality and ability-wise I guess I’m mostly Kasha.”

Seungcheol slammed his hand on the table in revelation. “Ha! So you are an Incubus!... kind of.”

“The only thing about me even remotely incubus in me is the fact that I look partially human. Don’t judge a book by its cover, ass-wipe.”

Jeonghan wrote down everything on his pad of paper, humming in interest, and ignoring Seungcheol’s outburst. “Abilities? What kind of abilities do you have?”

“Nothing interesting. From my Naga side I have a miniscule amount of thermal vision, and I don’t like being cold. From my Kasha side I have a heightened sense of smell, slight night vision... I'm naturally flexible. You could compare my traits to that of your earthly feline species. But really, those are just stupid quirks. I wouldn't count them as true abilities.”

Jeonghan stopped writing and looked up at Woozi with a look of realization. “Oh my god, you’re a cat. You’re literally a cat.”

“Fuck off, what’s the next question?”

Seungcheol thought for a moment. “Oh! How old are you?”

The pink-haired boy raised an eyebrow and began to count his fingers idly. “I’m 19, in accordance to the human aging system.”

Okay so not 12, and not 200 years old. Good, that’s a good thing. “I’m older than you by a year then! You should be calling me hyung.”

“Go fuck yourself, perverted bastard.”

Jeonghan chuckled at that, and Seungcheol shot him a warning look. “That… I didn’t mean that! Ah, you’re so frustrating.” He ruffled his own hair, grumbling to himself.

Woozi’s stomach spoke up again, and Jeonghan smiled at him kindly, putting his pad and pen down. “That’s enough questions for now; how about some food?”

The hungry demon nodded his head enthusiastically as Jeonghan stood to plate his dinner.

“That’s it? You don’t have any more questions?” Seungcheol crossed his arms over his chest. He had plenty of questions, like... What was hell like? Was it really hot as hell? How old can demons live? What the hell is a Kasha? He glanced at Woozi thoughtfully, who was watching Jeonghan with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. Seungcheol felt his heart falter at the sight of Woozi looking like an excited child over some food. Okay, so he was probably really hungry; he supposed the questions could wait until later… 

“Don’t be so mean, Seungcheol, the poor guy’s starving. The rest of my questions can wait until after dinner.” Woozi nodded in agreement as Jeonghan turned away, and the eldest bit his tongue coyly.

The moment food was set down within the demons proximity; he began to dig in as if he’d never eaten a meal in his life. Jeonghan grabbed himself and Seungcheol a plate as well, joining them at the table with a content expression. He pushed his hair back and took a few bites, staring across the table at as he chewed, at Seungcheol (who was busying himself by shoveling food into his mouth.)

“How did you even get your hands on a black magic book?”

He shrugged, swallowing his mouth-full quickly. “I have no idea, actually… I only figured it out after this guy showed up.” He gestured towards the small demon, who was currently doing a convincing impression of a vacuum cleaner.

“And that doesn’t bug you at all? Seungcheol, what if someone planted it on you? You could be in trouble.”

“Of course it bugs me; this entire situation bugs me. I just have no idea where to start with figuring it out.” Woozi finished his food and looked towards Jeonghan timidly, who smiled knowingly and picked up the empty plate; walking over to the stove to grab him a second helping. The demon muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ before digging in again once again.

“You still have the book, right? Can I see it?” Seungcheol got up from the table and ran downstairs to grab it, placing the ominous book in front of Jeonghan, who stared at it with curiosity.

“It looks like it was designed to look just like out textbooks at school…” Jeonghan hovered his hand just above the cover, hesitant to make the next move. “It won’t curse me if I touch it, right?”

He shrugged “I don’t think I’m cursed.”

Taking that as a yes, he opened the book, flipping through the pages and skimming through descriptions of some of the spells. “Seungcheol, this stuff is crazy. Hexing, death curses, amnesia, summoning; if someone caught you with this you’d be sent to death-row without question.”

“Yeah, I know… I’ve kind of been trying to keep it a secret to prevent something like that.” He looked briefly at Woozi, who was still gobbling down food. He must have been really hungry. Seungcheol felt a tinge of guilt watching the boy, knowing it was his own fault for being oblivious to his needs..

“What page was the demon summoning spell on?”

“Ninety….six? I think that was it.” Jeonghan flipped to the page and began to read through it. His eyes widened as he studied the details of the spell.

“You… you guys are bonded? Is that was that burn mark was?” He turned towards Woozi, who was looking a little shy at the mention of their bond. “Do you have a burn too?”

Woozi pulled down the collar of his very oversized turtle-neck sweater, (probably one of Seungcheol’s) to reveal a fancy copper collar encased around his neck. It had fancy little designs around the edge, and ‘Seungcheol’ written clearly on the front in bold lettering. Jeez, Seungcheol was even treating the poor guy like a cat. Woozi pulled his collar back up quickly, looking embarrassed.

“Seungcheol, you pervert.”

“Yah! The collar wasn’t my idea, the spell did it!”

Jeonghan read further through the page. “It says ‘ _the bond will form in whichever way it is imagined.’_ Maybe you didn’t think it up consciously, but somewhere in your mind, you wanted to see Woozi in a collar."

Woozi choked on the food he was eating at that, and Seungcheol rubbed his temple in frustration.

“This spell seems pretty serious... Did you not read through the instructions when you summoned him?”

He looked away, biting his cheek. “I… skimmed them.”

The long-haired boy sighed. “Of course you did. It has extra information on training. Like, different punishment spells or hexes of obedience. It’s kind of like a strange illegal guide to taming your pet demon.”

“I’m not a fucking pet…” Woozi grumbled behind a mouth full of food, looking away from everyone else at the table in anger.

He flipped the page and furrowed his eyebrows at the strange paragraph. “What the hell, it’s in gibberish…”

“We think that’s the reversal spell… If we can decipher that paragraph we’re hoping it will send Woozi back, or reverse the effects of the bond, maybe.” Jeonghan hummed.

“I bet Jisoo would be able to figure it out.”

 Seungcheol laughed sarcastically. “We are not dragging another person into this mess.”

He shrugged. “It was just a suggestion.”

Jihoon watched as the two talked to each other, feeling satisfied now that he was finally full. He looked outside and realized the sky was becoming darker as their conversation progressed. His eyes drooped slightly and he drowned out their conversation to stare at the dull flickering lights in the sky.

Seungcheol stopped talking when he spotted Woozi’s stature faltering, the small boys round head drooping ever-so often as he fell in and out of full consciousness. The demon rubbed his eyes and yawned, staring out the window with a far-off look in his eyes. He was sleepy, that’s fucking adorable. Seungcheol bit his tongue at the sight. This kid really needed to stop being so cute, it was bad for Seungcheol's heart. “Woozi?”

The demon shook his head to wake himself up, turning to him with a tired expression behind his soft brown eyes. “Seungcheol, can I go sleep?”

Seungcheol smiled endearingly. It was strange to hear the demon ask for Seungcheol’s permission for something like that; he was generally pretty defiant to everything his Hyung said.

It was a nice change, anyways. Woozi should be tired more often.  “Yeah, sure… Goodnight Woozi.”

 “G’night.” Woozi left his plate at the table and headed towards his usual spot, staggering tiredly towards the basement door.

“Where are you going?” he stopped to turn and look at Jeonghan with squinty eyes, who was raising his eyebrow at him dubiously.

“The basement... to sleep?”

Jeonghan's eyes widened. “You’ve been sleeping in the basement?”

Seungcheol looked away with a guilty expression when Jeonghan shot him a disapproving look.

“Yeah, in the wardrobe.”

“Seungcheol, you monster.” He clicked his tongue and stood from the table, striding forward and taking Woozi’s hand in his own. “Come on, we have a guest bedroom, you can sleep there.”

Woozi looked down at his hand, his mouth hanging open as if to say something, but the boy stayed quiet.

He was really tired, and the idea of sleeping in a bed sounded fan-fucking-tastic, so he didn’t put up a fuss over the the unwanted physical contact. He'd also... kind of figured out along the way that Jeonghan wasn’t a woman, though at first glance anyone could have been mistaken. Still, he had a kind of atmosphere about him… something motherly? He was calming to be around; a nice change from Seungcheol’s polar-opposite persona.

Seungcheol watched Jeonghan lead Woozi by the hand out of the room, feeling a strange feeling spike against his chest. He wasn’t… jealous, was he? He shook his head, knocking on his skull in an attempt to remove those kinds of thoughts from his mind. No, he was tired, and Jeonghan’s food gave him heartburn… yeah, it was just heartburn.

He sighed; his life was turning into a mess. At least now he won’t have to worry about hiding Woozi from Jeonghan, though.

That… should be a good thing, right?

Jeonghan turned on the light to the bedroom, revealing everything Jihoon had dreamed of while he was cramped and forced to sleep in that dumb wooden wardrobe. The older boy pulled the blankets back and Jihoon lay down, feeling bashful. He kept silent as the older male tucked him in like mother would for their child. The light behind Jeonghan’s head created the illusion of luminance surrounding his figure, sparkling silver hair draping down and hanging just above him. He stared at him in awe as Jeonghan whispered a quiet ‘goodnight’ to the demon, and smiled kindly.

An angel, this boy was an angel.

Jeonghan turned off the light before he left the room, and Jihoon pulled the blanket up to cover his face; which was probably red as a fuck at this point. Aside from Seungcheol’s fruitless attempts, he couldn’t remember any time in his life that he'd been taken care of like this... like he was worth something.

He shut his eyes tightly and curled up under the blanket, feeling just a little conflicted at the thought. Sleep took him quickly, and he dozed off with the shadow of a smile on his lips.

~

  


A boy whose eyes were shadowed over with a dark mahogany hood, stood before the audience in matching hoods, only the flickering flames of a number of torches illuminated the room,. They glowered over him with a judging aura; even with their faces covered, the anger they held was evident.

“What do you mean you lost the book?” The man in the middle of the row spoke up loudly, his voice powerful and influential to the ears of everyone in the room.

“I… It was a foolish mistake… I collided with one of my classmates and he picked it up and ran away. I tried to stop him, bu-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses, D.O!” The boy cowered slightly, his hands joining together nervously. “Just get the book back and we will erase his memories before he figures anything out. I’m assuming he doesn’t know it was yours, yes?”

“He hasn’t shown any signs of knowledge over the matter, from the way he behaves at school…”

“Good, then get the book before he figures it out, got it? This case is dismissed.” The man lifted a golden-brown, wooden gavel, ready to slam it down on the table to confirm his judgment.

“Wait, leader!”

Before the hammer could hit the table, the man’s arm halted at his word.. The gavel hovered in the air as he looked down upon the boy, annoyance evident in his tone. “What?”

“I don’t think it will be so simple to get it back… The boy who has my book, it’s Choi Seungcheol.”

The Jury made a few sounds of surprise, a number of the members leaning into each other and speaking in hushed words of worry. Their leader held up a hand, wordlessly silencing the latter.

“I would like to request temporary use of my magic in order to obtain the book.” He lowered his head slightly, listening as the party began to discuss the request amongst themselves.

“D.O. you know I can’t grant that request. Your magic and title were revoked for a reason, and knowing that you allowed this to happen in the first place doesn’t exactly give me reason to trust you. Request denied.”

The boy dropped to his knees, his head hung low in a pleading motion. “Leader, I beg of you, this is Choi Seungcheol we’re talking about. He is the man that plundered our mission last fall and alerted the town of the presence of black magic users. He is prestigious and powerful; I am not confident that I will be able to do this if not magically.” Their leader turned to listen to the opinions of his jury, taking a couple moments to consider the request.

D.O.’s head remained hung, staring at the shadows of the flames flickering across the tiled floor. A drip of nervous sweat trickled down his brow as he listened to the ominous whispers of his brothers. He whipped his head up at the sound of his leader clearing his throat, loudly.

“I will grant you use of your magic.”

D.O stood quickly, bowing gratefully. “Thank you, l-”

“But.” He shut his mouth quickly, biting his tongue. “Your magic will be limited, I will unseal just enough that you may use 5 spells, and no more. That should be plenty for you to get the job done.”

D.O. bowed again, politely. “Thank you leader, I promise I will not disappoint you.”

“I will accept nothing but success from you. Another failure will not be tolerated, D.O.” He lifted the wooden gavel once again, slamming it down on his desk and sending a ricocheted bang throughout the hallow room. “This case is dismissed.”

He bowed again, before walking down the dimly-lit hallway. With his back turned to the council he allowed his expression to falter, his lips stretching into a wide grin, and he exited the room confidently though two large doors. Five spells, he could make do with five spells. All he needed now was to think up an effective plan to eliminate Choi Seungcheol for good. Leader hadn’t said anything about how he should go about getting his book back, so the possibilities were endless, he had complete creative freedom for this mission. The idea of being able to perform spells again excited him to no end, his stomach churned in sickening giddiness at the very thought of it.

Kyungsoo chuckled quietly to himself, stretching his fingers out and cracking the joints with a few satisfying pops. By tomorrow morning he would have his powers again.

Tomorrow the fun would finally begin.


	5. Buying Your Demon Essentials

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol breaks his bank, and Woozi just breaks.

Seungcheol turned around drowsily under the covers to reach his hand over to the alarm, slamming down on the obnoxious thing haphazardly. He managed to drag himself into the bathroom for a quick shower, to remove the stench of yesterdays stress.

To his relief, a new body wasn’t discovered lying next to him in bed this morning.

The water streamed down steadily from the shower head, only slightly scalding, as Seungcheol stood in thought. He should feel so relieved knowing that he didn’t have to worry about Woozi being discovered by Jeonghan anymore, so why did he feel so anxious? Sure, their problem hadn’t exactly been resolved, but at least now Woozi could be forced to live with them a bit more comfortably. No more ‘yanking him around and shoving him into wardrobes like a ragdoll,’ as he'd complained. Something in his gut was screaming danger, for some reason. He just... couldn't figure out why.

He sighed, squeezing a generous dollop of man-scented body wash into the palm of his hand. He needed to come up with a plan, and soon. Who knows what could happen if anyone else figured out what they were up to. He pondered on this as he rinsed the soap from his skin.

Placing those worrying thought’s aside for now, Seungcheol stepped out of the shower and dried off a bit. He walked over to his closet to pick out his school uniform when a sudden realization hit him, one that jolted through his body like electricity and forced a shiver up his damp skin. 

It was the weekend.

He groaned out in frustration and whipped over to his clock, which was reading out the early morning hours in obnoxiously bright red numbers. Of course, he’d forgotten to turn off his school alarm again. He ran a hand down his face and grabbed some lazy weekend clothing out from his drawers; grey sweats and a simple black tank top. As long as he had already showered, there was no point in going back to bed. Though his exhaustion was clear through the way the bags under his eyes drooped a dull blue hue, maybe some coffee and breakfast would help him more than sleeping for another five hours could.

He yawned, walking out of his bedroom and into the kitchen with his eyes half closed. The familiar sight of light pink hair and black horns threw him out of his daze. Woozi was sitting at the kitchen table already, eating a stack of pancakes drowned in syrup, and staring up at Jeonghan with a sparkle behind his soft brown eyes. Seungcheol felt something spike in his chest at the sight. 

Shaking his head lightly, and ignoring the feeling; he took a seat beside the small demon.

“Morning Jeonghan, Shorty.” He smirked when Woozi turned to shoot him an annoyed look. Jeonghan waved a hand, facing the grill with his long silver hair tied up into a low ponytail. He looked Woozi up and down as he returned to his breakfast. Yeah, he still looked adorable wearing his clothing, but today Seungcheol should probably go buy him something that actually fits. “Hey Woozi, do you know what size you are? In clothing?”

Woozi swallowed his food, sucking on his cheek in thought. “How do humans measure clothing size?”

“I’m guessing that’s a no.” Jeonghan set a plate of pancakes in front of Seungcheol, before joining the two of them at the table. “I think its... the size of your waist, thighs, chest…. I don’t know. Hey Jeonghan, do you have a measuring tape?”

Jeonghan set down his cup of coffee. “Yeah, do you need it?”

“Yeah.”

He got up to grab it, and Woozi looked between the two of them questioningly. “Why do you need to know what size I am?”

“So I can buy you clothes. Unless you want to keep wearing mine, but I don’t really think they fit you.” He shoveled up his breakfast, dwelling in the sweetness of the fluffy cakes.

Woozi looked away, his face red. “Of course I don’t, idiot. But aren’t you leaving? To that thing you do every day?”

Seungcheol chuckled. “School, And no, it’s the weekend. I don’t have to go back until Monday.” 

Woozi quirked his head to the side, confused. Jeonghan returned with a long strip of measuring tape wrapped up in his hands, placing it on the table with a smile.

“Thanks Han. Okay Woozi, stand up.”

“Why?”

“So I can measure you, dummy.” The demon furrowed his brows slightly, shooting a look of disapproval, but complied. Jeonghan turned away to wash up some dishes while the two other boys continued on with their strange antics.

He held up the tape up awkwardly, eyeing the demon who was staring back at him incredulously. “Okay, uh… lift your arms.” Woozi did, and Seungcheol felt his heart skip a beat. Holding his arms in the air with a confused pout... He really was too cute. Seungcheol smiled endearingly, reaching his arms around the boy’s smaller frame to get the measuring tape around his chest.

Jihoon stared forward; at a wall, a clock, anything to ignore the warmth emanating from Seungcheol’s body and the hot breath on his neck. The older boy pulled away just as quickly as he had leaned in, holding the ends of the tape together and reading the numbers with squinting eyes.

 He took his phone out from his pocket and punched in the measurement. Maybe with the whole oversized sweater thing he had going on, he couldn’t measure with perfect accuracy, but Seungcheol wasn’t about to ask Woozi to strip after what happened yesterday. He leaned down and wrapped the tape around Woozi’s waist, reading the numbers with wide eyes. “No wonder you’re so hungry all the time. You have measurements most girls would be jealous of.”

Woozi threw his knee between the legs of the rude human intruding his personal space, causing him to double over in pain.

“Aurh!... God, Woozi, it was a compliment!” He backed up, whincing. Once he was able to breathe properly again, he wrote down the measurement and moved on with his life. There was no point in arguing with him right now, there was far too little coffee in his system for that.

“Okay, now your hip.” He dropped down to his knees for better access of the shorter boy, bringing the tape up. The sweater hung low, making it difficult to even figure out where the kid’s waist started. When he began to pull the end of the sweater up for better access, Woozi backed away.

“What are you doing?” 

Seungcheol sighed. “Trying to measure your hips.” He moved to lift the boy’s shirt again, and Woozi slapped his hands away. “Woozi would you just let m-”

“No, don’t touch me you fucking pervert.”

He ran a weary hand down his face, exasperated. “Woozi I swear to god, that thing yesterday was just a misunderstanding, I thought you were an incubus.”

Woozi crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. “Don’t assume things about me.”

This was just completely ridiculous in Seungcheol’s mind. His own demon thought he was a pervert because of one fucking mistake. Mind you, it was a pretty bad mistake, but that didn’t give him the right to hold it over his head every chance he got! “Woozi I’m sorry about that, would you just let it go? I’m trying to make up for it by buying you clothing that fits, so would you cooperate just this once?” He looked up at Woozi with pleading eyes.

This son of a bitch; trying to act cute just so he could get his way. Jihoon sighed, peaking down at Seungcheol's big round eyes and pouted mouth... Okay, he was a little cute. He sighed, stepping forward again and lifting his own sweater up a bit, so that Seungcheol didn’t have to. He didn’t say anything, just nodded and Seungcheol smiled wide like an excited dog, moving to measure him again.

Jeonghan smirked at the two, watching from the side as he dried dished absentmindedly. He never thought it would be possible, but maybe accidentally summoning a demon could be a good thing for Seungcheol? Jeonghan honestly hadn’t see Seungcheol trying this hard for anything in years. “Hey, Coups?”

Seungcheol turned away from Woozi’s stubborn frame, who was still frowning insistently, glancing at Jeonghan, who was looking unusually sly. “Yeah?”

“I’m heading out to help Jisoo with his charity event now; I don’t think I’ll be back before late. You guys are going to have to order pizza tonight or something.” Seungcheol gnawed at his lip lightly.

“I’m leaving now too, though…” He looked down at Woozi again, who was eyeing the two of them with a confused expression. “Will you be okay alone?”

“I’m not a five year old, you shit-face. I can handle being alone for a few hours, you usually leave me here for school, anyways.” He huffed, blatantly annoyed.

“You don’t exactly have a clean record when it comes to keeping out of trouble, Mr. grumpy.”

Brown eyes squinted into a glare at the nickname.

Seungcheol chuckled. “Just make sure you don’t leave the house. The neighbors probably won’t be as nice as Jeonghan is, if they find out what you are.”

Jeonghan nodded in agreement. “They called the cops on us for having a friendly bonfire in the backyard once. They’re total dicks.”

Woozi tightened the arms he had folded against his chest. These fucking humans needed to stop patronizing him as if he were a child. He’s a demon, maybe not a very powerful demon, but a demon nonetheless. “Got it, no leaving the house. You act as if I want more humans in my life. Judging by the ones I’ve dealt with so far, at least half of them are insufferable, so don't worry.” he was glaring at Seungcheol as he said this.

 “Seriously?” Seungcheol moped.

Jeonghan laughed loudly, and Seungcheol shot him a warning look. Woozi looked away from the both of them, staring at his own feet with a frown.

Despite this, Jeonghan walked towards Woozi with a loving expression, his face red from laughter. “God, you’re a riot.” He patted the short demon on the back, who’s face softened slightly, before heading over to the front door. “I’m leaving, see you guys later. Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone!”

Seungcheol called out after him angrily, only to be answered by the sound of the front door shutting and locking behind the cheeky boy. He glanced down at Woozi, who was staring down the hallway, his cheeks pink, and his eyes sparkling in admiration. Seungcheol opted to ignore the persistent feeling he felt jumping in his chest... He wasn’t jealous, he was just mad that Woozi seemed to like Jeonghan better than him. Seungcheol was the one he was bound to, Seungcheol was the one who had been on his side since the beginning, so Woozi should like Seungcheol best, right? Sure, Jeonghan was nice and attractive and calming to be around, plus he cooked great food, but… Okay, yeah, Jeonghan was great and Seungcheol wasn’t anything special, but it still wasn’t fair.

He cleared his throat, and Woozi snapped out of his daze. “I’m leaving too, okay?” 

Woozi nodded, saying nothing.

He walked over to the fridge, sketching down some numbers onto a sticky note, quickly. He ripped it off the pad and sauntered back over to the demon again, holding out the paper to the boy. He took it in his hands and eyed the strange combination of numbers, his nose scrunched up in thought.

“What’s this?”

“My cell number. If something happens while I’m gone, call me. Okay?”

Woozi nodded, humming in agreement. “How do I use it?”

“What?…you… punch it into the phone and press the call button…” Do demons live in the prehistoric era? He didn’t even know how to use a phone?

“Okay…” Woozi furrowed his eyebrows at the piece of paper and Seungcheol found himself smiling without even realizing it. 

He ruffled the demons pink hair lightly, prompting another sharp glare from the shorter boy. “See you in a bit, I won’t be long. Just watch some TV while I’m gone or something.”

He swatted Seungcheol’s hand away. “No thanks. Where’s the book? I’ll try to decipher the spell while you’re gone.”

Seungcheol was already putting his shoes on at this point. Woozi was cute but there was no way he would entrust a demon with a black magic guide. “It’s.. hidden in my room, just look for it!”

“Where-!” Before he could even finish the sentence, the door slammed shut, and Jihoon was left in silence. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, a little confused at the instructions he was left with, but he doubted he’d need to call Seungcheol for help any time soon. Instead he’d make himself useful with deciphering the spell. It was hidden in his room, so it couldn’t be that hard to find, right? Jihoon placed the note on the table, headed towards Seungcheol’s room confidently.

On the way in he found his legs tangling with few a stray pieces of clothing scattered in his path, causing him to topple to the floor with a yelp. He landed with his face in a pair of pants which stunk of sweat and Seungcheol. Looking around from where he was, it was obvious that Seungcheol’s room could use a bit of… tidying up.

Maybe this way he could be a bit helpful while his human charge was out.

~

Kyungsoo stretched and contracted the joints in his hands, which popped and cracked to his own satisfaction. He could feel it, the power within him pulsing throughout his body once again. It wasn’t much, not as much as he had been used to... but it was so much better than the emptiness he had been succumbing to lately.

Figuring out where Seungcheol lived was the easy part. He had stalked behind him on his route home so many times before; he practically knew it by heart. There had been days when he’d sat amongst the shrubs in front of his home and considered everything he could do to him, everything he was forbidden to do by the council. Eventually, he’d just have to stomp home in frustration, knowing that plotting something he was incapable of pulling off was utterly pointless.

Now, however, it was different. Kyungsoo sat outside the house with a purpose, hidden behind the bright green shrubs adorning Seungcheol's yard. With his power restored now, he could really do some damage. The book? It was just a fragment of the reason he had awaited this mission. He could take his book back easily with this power. But more importantly, this was the time for some well deserved revenge.

He muttered under his breath, feeling his eyes go hot. It was painful temporarily, but eventually his eyes adjusted to the temperature, and he was able to focus. Through his eyes, he began to see heat signatures; the red outlines of living things. Specifically, he saw the heat signature of one person wandering within Seungcheol’s home. The bodily adjustment he was using was simply a parlor trick, hardly a spell at all. It didn’t so much as put a dent on the amount of magic he had stored within him. Luckily for him, it would seem that Seungcheol’s pretty-boy roommate wasn’t home. Kyungsoo was aware that he generally went out on the weekends, so now was the perfect time to strike.

First, let’s just make sure the spell has time to settle without any disruption. He breathed out the incantations of a hex, closing his eyes in concentration. When he finished, his hair lifted from the surge of power surrounding his body, before it settling down into a gentle tugging wage of movement. He watched the outline of Seungcheol within the room, waiting.

Jihoon scrunched up his nose as he carried the humongous pile of dirty clothing to the laundry bin Seungcheol had in the corner of the room. He set everything in and smiled in satisfaction. The room looked much nicer now that he could see the floor.

A thudding feeling sounded throughout his brain and he halted, feeling nauseous suddenly. 

He stumbled forward. This feeling quickly went from a sudden pressure, to a painful weight pushing against him from all angles. It was as if he was sunken in deep water, the ocean surrounding him becoming heavier with each painful breath, his fragile body crushing inwardly from the weight. He fell to his knees, choking out a cry.

Fuck, it was painful, it was really fucking painful. Was this another side affect from that god awful summoning spell? He clutched his skull tightly, wishing desperately for this pressure to stop. He allowed himself to cry out in pain, grinding his teeth together. He was going to explode, he was seriously going to fucking explode. He could imagine it all happening in his head; his skull and bones would crack and stab into his innards, crushing his brains, grinding his internal organs to dust. He felt bile rising in his gut at the thought of it, and he gagged.

After one hell of a minute, the pressure seemed to begin lessening. Jihoon gasped in a desperate gulp of air, suddenly realizing he'd been holding his breath.  He pulled himself to his feet shakily, wiping the fallen tears which trickled down his cheeks. He was fine... It wasn’t anything he couldn't handle. It was all in his mind.

He walked over to the bed to sit down for a moment, when he felt himself go limp. His legs gave out first, causing him to fall forward onto the edge of mattress. He tried to push himself up but suddenly his arms gave up as well. He tried to lift up his head, but it flopped down uselessly.

He opened his mouth to scream, or he thought. Even his face was paralyzed. He couldn’t move, was unable to speak at all. His heart thumped wildly in his chest, his mind racing.

What the hell is going on?

Kyungsoo smirked as he watched the figure flop down and become instantly still. He ignored the feeling in his chest, the agonizing sensation of his own body trying to rip itself apart from the inside out. He was used to it, he could heal himself later. Right now he needed to focus.

Wiping the blood from his nose, Kyungsoo stared at the limp heat signature before him. The paralysis would last a couple hours, at least, but that was plenty of time for the real treat he had in mind to settle within him.

He pulled a bright red candle from his bag, lighting it quickly and slicing a silver blade into his own wrist. The blood trickled out onto the flame steadily, fueling the fire further. With a deep breath, he held out his palms above the light and began to enchant a memorized scripture.

“Qui loquitur lingua torquentur gustus eius afficitur. Solvite ore tuo et loqui nisi quod verum est. Quam verum est cognoscentes imperium tibi amittet. Impleatur sermo tuus quem tenet vera audiebatur usque ad atrium aures proximus adstiterat!” With the final word of the chant, the fire went out and a thick stream of vapor blew upwards in a puff of ominously-shaped silver smoke. He clutched at his burning wrist before hunching forward in a coughing fit, managing to hold a cloth against his mouth to prevent blood from splattering onto the bright green leaves of the shrubbery he was hiding behind. It would be better that he left now, before his body gave in. It probably wouldn’t be a great idea for him to leave a bunch of his own DNA at the scene of the crime.

He packed up his bag, wrapping up his wrist before he hurried off with the hood of his jacket shielding his face from onlookers. All there was left to do was to wait. No human would be able to endure a curse like this for long. And by Monday, Kyungsoo would be able to get everything he needed from him, effortlessly. Seungcheol won’t even know what hit him.

His face stretched into a grin, and he began to chuckle quietly. All he had to do was now, was wait.

Jihoon could swear he was on fire. He couldn’t turn to look, but he could tell. If he were able to, he’d see the flesh on his bones melting and crisping under a blazing mess of flames, roasting alive; because that’s exactly what it felt like.

This couldn’t be a side effect, it was way too intense. Woozi would be ripping his own lungs apart with his screams, if he were able to make any noise at all. Instead he lay paralyzed, pressed against the usually comfortable blankets on Seungcheol’s bed, which now felt similar to laying in a pit of red-hot charcoals, melding into his dripping flesh.

He felt sick; too much was happening all at once. How the hell was he supposed to call for help when he couldn’t move at all? Tears streamed out from glazed-over eyes, dripping steadily, and soaking into the blanket. He was helpless, completely paralyzed, and he was probably going to die if this kept up much longer.

God, please come back soon, Seungcheol. He begged within his mind, pleading. It was the only comfort he could feel in that moment, as his insides melted into goo and his blood boiled within his veins. Seungcheol would come back soon, he just needed to endure until then.

All he could do was wait.

~

 

Seungcheol looked between the options on the hanger, feeling conflicted. On one side was the plain men’s clothing section; all the same shade and shape of blacks and blues. Completely boring, they didn’t seem to fit Woozi’s style at all. On the other side was… the girls section. Yeah, the clothes were for girls, but as long as Seungcheol didn’t tell him that, Woozi wouldn’t have to know, right? He scratched his chin. No, he couldn’t do that to the kid. No matter how cute Woozi could potentially look in that polka dot jacket, or the pink ice-cream sweater…

“Can I help you?” Seungcheol jumped in surprise, turning towards a short employee, who was smiling at him professionally. She looked towards the rack of women’s sweaters he had been browsing, humming in interest. “Are you shopping for your girlfriend?”

Seungcheol felt his face heat up at that, his heart thumping, and he shook his hands desperately in response. “No! Just friends, not even that. I’m just buying him-I mean her, some clothes...”

The girl giggled in a cute manner at his response, and Seungcheol felt his face redden further. “Okay, what did you have in mind?”

Seungcheol looked away from her finally, staring back at the clothing in deep consideration. “Uh… Something cute, brightly colored, but also… unisex? Nothing too girly.”

She nodded. “I can show you a few options like that. What size clothing is she?”

“Probably small?... I have her measurements.” Seungcheol whipped out his phone to show the girl, who leaned in with interest.

“Wow, I’m jealous.” Ha, told him. “Okay, come with me.”

She led him to a few different racks where they collected some items following Seungcheol’s descriptions. Some fitted jeans of various colors, a few pairs of mid-thigh shorts, some graphic T-shirts, and a couple fluffy sweaters.

“Aren’t these sweaters the wrong size?”

“No, no, baggy sweaters are in style right now. They look cuter.”

That’s for damn sure.

He settled on everything, knowing that he’d probably end up stuck there for another hour if he tried to pick out a few among the choices he’d been given. The same girl rung up his items at the check-out counter swiftly, punching numbers into her fancy counter device idly. “Alright, your total is $563.75.” Yikes, thank god for Mr. and Mrs. Choi’s trusty golden card. His parents were dripping with money, they probably won’t even notice this little dent in the bank account. 

He did feel a bit bad about using his 'emergency money' for something like this, though.

He smiled, tapping the card against the sensor and typing the code in quickly. The girl behind the counter beamed at him, handing his many bags over the counter with a bright smile. “Thank you, have a nice day sir.”

“No, thank you.” He winked as he took the bags, making sure to brush his fingers against her hand, just a bit. She melted into an anxious smile, blushing in surprise. He left the store with a smirk as the employee staring after him dreamily.

Nothing like flirting with a cute store employee to get your mind off a certain pink-haired demon.

Before heading home, Seungcheol grabbed a few other essentials he assumed Woozi might need. A toothbrush, hair brush, and some underwear. Assuming demon’s brushed their teeth too? Come to think of it, Woozi hadn’t even showered since he’d been summoned, he probably felt a little gross. Tonight he’d have to clean up. Seungcheol wasn’t about to let Woozi stink up the whole house from lack of demon hygiene.

He took the bus home, ignoring the glances he got from people around him; probably curious about the fifteen bags of name-brand clothing he was lugging around on public transport. At his stop, he struggled to balance towards the exit with all his hands occupied, and ended up stumbling out the bus doors embarrassingly. He sighed for the rest of the short walk home, the weight of the goodies in his arms weighing down his tired soul.

Woozi'd better be damn grateful to him for going through all this trouble.

He set the bags down at the entrance so he could dig through his pockets for keys. He managed to push the door close behind him with all the shopping bags in-hand and kicked off his shoes. "I’m back!”

He walked into the living room and set down everything beside the couch, stretching out his sore arms with a sigh. He looked around the empty room, confused.

It was quiet... too quiet. “Woozi? I’m home!”

There was no answer, once again. Seungcheol whipped his head around wildly, his heart racing with worry.

“Woozi?”


	6. Giving Your Demon a Bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol questions he may be developing memory problems, and Woozi finally takes a bath

No, this was not happening again. Seungcheol rushed down to the basement, throwing the wardrobe door open; he found nothing. He then turned around in panic and made his way back upstairs. The only thing he could think to do right now was check everywhere Woozi could possibly be. He looked behind the couch, inside cupboards, the fridge? Nope. His heart was racing and his skin was slick with nervous sweat. For all he knew, Woozi had just run away. With a hood, he could probably hide his horns, and he could tuck his tail into his pants. He could be headed out to find someone competent enough to help him, or just getting away from Seungcheol in general; god knows he’d been itching to get out of this damn house. There was also the possibility of him being in trouble, though. Someone spotted him through a window and notified the police, or he attracted the attention of the wrong people and... No, Seungcheol needed to stop having thoughts like this.

There was no time to think about the ‘what if’s’ of the situation, he had to keep looking. Seungcheol threw pillows off the couch in a hopeless attempt. “Woozi!” Nothing, he was nowhere. Did he really run away or something?

He looked around, standing still for a moment to think, and breathing heavily to catch his breath.

At the sight of his bedroom door hanging open ever-so-slightly, Seungcheol darted towards it. He threw the door open and huffed as he searched around the room, which was... oddly clean. His eyes eventually landed on the familiar sight of pink hair, and he felt a weight being lifted from his chest in an single instant. Woozi was asleep, from the looks of it, lying haphazardly on his stomach across his unmade bed, with his stubby legs dangling from the edge of the mattress.

This kid, was he trying to give Seungcheol a heart attack? How did he even manage to fall asleep like this? He wasn’t exactly in the most comfortable position.

Seungcheol felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips nonetheless, as he leaned down. He lifted the demon up into his arms and maneuvered him into a more comfortable position, rolling him onto his back carefully.

With the chance to look upon his face, Seungcheol felt a lump catch in his throat; his breathing nearly stopped.

His eyes.

The usually soft and round peepers were eerily wide. The whites of his eyes were littered with irritated red veins, and the pink conjunctiva was swollen. The iris itself was the most shocking, though. What was once a chestnut brown, was now bright red, with flakes of orange and gold decorating a thin slit of a pupil; just like a cat or… a snake? Seungcheol found himself in a trance for a moment, staring into the demons glowing eyes, frozen in fear. The sight of a glimmer sliding down the boys pale cheeks shook him out of it, and Seungcheol quickly realized that Woozi was... crying?

Oh god, what was wrong with him?

He moved the demon so that his head was rested comfortably against the pillow before bolting out of the room and down to the basement. He snatched his trusty black-magic book from where it had been hidden, on a bookshelf in-between a few boring cook books, before making his way back to where Woozi was. He locked the door behind him for safe measure.

Based on everything so far, what was happening to Woozi was either some demon bullshit he wouldn’t understand, or black magic. Since Woozi had never happened to mention that he might become frozen, or that his eyes glowed red in some situations, he opted for the second option. He took a worried glance at the boys face, gulping, before opening the book. His best bet at this point would be to backtrack. He could read the symptoms of some spells and figure out if any of them matched his current situation. Woozi seemed to be awake, but he couldn’t move? Or maybe he really was asleep. He seemed to be in a tranquilized state, though, so he should look out for spells that prohibited movement, or something.

He flipped through the pages, skimming over words with a concerned expression. _Army of imps, shapeshifting, puppeteer, para\- _Oh, this could be it!

 _Paralysis… will cause pain upon casting, but only physiological… temporary… will last depending on the ability of the magic user responsible… tricks the mind into complete bodily paralysis…_ This had to be it, right?  Seungcheol flipped the page with a heavy heart. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do if the reversal spell turned out to be another foreign code. Seeing as it was all in Latin, he still had a bit of hope. He grabbed his Latin translation dictionary off the shelf and translated as little as he needed in order to understand what he needed to do.

To his relief- and from what he could understand- the spell was entirely mental. It tricked the victims mind into believing they were paralyzed through a bit of psychological torture. The trick to un-paralyzing him was to find a way to snap him out of his trance. He was still aware of everything, and his sense of touch was…

oh, thats it.

An idea popped into his head, and Seungcheol decided to take a shot in the dark on this one. If it worked, he could dub himself a genius later on.

Seungcheol sprinted into his bathroom and threw on the cold tap, which began to fill the bath tub heavily. He plugged the drain before going back into his room and swooping the limp demon up into his arms, carrying him and sitting beside the tub. He carefully stripped the boy of his clothes, leaving his boxers on for the sake of protecting the paralyzed demons last shred of dignity. Hopefully Woozi would forgive him for it just this once; he was trying to save his life, after all. He stuck his hand in water to check the temperature and clicked his tongue nervously.

It wasn’t cold enough.

With Woozi’s drooping head rested against his knees, Seungcheol held his palms over the water and muttered a quick incantation, which prompted thick ice crystals to dance across the surface of the rising liquid, before shattering and sinking to the bottom. The ice gleamed white as it melted and blended into the rest of the surrounding water. Once he felt satisfied with the results, Seungcheol hoisted Woozi’s light body over the surface and drew in a large breath. It was now or never.

He Pushed him under the water and felt his arms sting in the cold. The Bath water continued to run and the height of the daring liquid slowly reached the edge of the tub, but Seungcheol paid it no mind. He stared down at the dull red glow which shun through the muggy water and stared up at his own human eyes lifelessly. A few seconds passed and he saw no change in the demon, so he pulled him back up for air. The moment the demons mouth reached the surface, Seungcheol watched his chest rise and fall rapidly, but he remained limp. Seungcheol swiped a thumb comfortingly across the demons cheek, before submerging him again.

Jihoon stared up through the muggy water. Strong hands held him in this cold ocean, and a looming figure towered over him. He felt his lungs stinging and his whole body felt numb with cold, yet he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Just a moment ago he had been praying to a god he despised and begging to die, just to escape the pain. How long had he been trapped like that? Stuck with the feeling of volcanic iron being pushed into his flesh and melting his insides. An hour? Two?

At some point he had pushed his way into the deepest section of his subconscious to ignore the pain, and in the process he supposed he had lost track of time. At least the pain had faded, though, replaced with a tingly stinging sensation brought on by the sub-zero ocean he was currently being drowned in, and a morbid feeling of emptiness in his gut. He felt strong hands grip tightly at his waist and neck to pull him up, forcing him to choke in a couple more painful gulps of air. The water stung his eyes and blurred his vision; he only saw the figure of a man shaking the living daylights out of him and screaming incoherently.

Why did they sound so worried? Why worry over someone like him? Jihoon couldn’t blink, and therefore his vision remained unclear. He watched a limb rise and come towards him quickly. His cheeks stung red.

Seungcheol slapped Woozi again for good measure, shook him a little, called his name; it was all pointless. Woozi’s red eyes stared up wide and lifeless, and his body remained limp. Seungcheol bit his cheek before pushing the demon back under.

Jihoon drew in a sharp breath as he felt hands moving him under the water once again. Bubbles rose from his parted lips and he felt his brain rattle as he crashed to the bottom of the water, against the hard… bottom? Was he in a bathtub? He stared and waited, but the human kept him under. He was going to die, wasn’t he? But why would this person kill him when it seemed like they were worried? Jihoon’s brain pounded into a headache as he tried to wrap his mind around it. As he pondered, he felt his heart thudding in his chest, and a realization hit him much harder than the cold water.

He didn’t want to die. At this point it seemed he had lost interest in a lot of things, but he was certain that he needed to live. For some strange reason, he knew that dying now would be a mistake.

Obviously there wasn’t much time until he lost consciousness from lack of oxygen, so he needed to act fast. He needed to move. He started with his eyes, concentrating hard with what little energy he had left until he could blink; slowly at first, but his control increased rapidly. He attempted his limps next, squinting until he felt his toes and fingers wiggle numbly, and then, he bent his legs. His lungs twitched in his chest as he watched his vision fog over in grey blotches. Once he had the use of his arms, he made one final attempt to get up, and pushed against the arms holding him under.

Seungcheol felt small hands pushing against his wrist, which were shivering against the hold he had under the icy water, and quickly moved to pull Woozi out. The moment the demons mouth reached the surface, he lurched and coughed out the water in his lungs, before gasping air in desperately. Seungcheol patted his back in an attempt to aid his choking, feeling the color return to his face with relief. He hoisted the demon up into his arms after the boy managed to control his breathing once again, and wrapped his shivering frame with a fluffy towel, staring into his face with worry. The red in his eyes began to dull and faded back to a soft brown. Seungcheol assumed that meant he was going to be okay for now, and smiled in relief.

Jihoon blinked away the water in his eyes and coughed his lungs out. When he finally managed to clear his vision, he whipped up to identify the unknown person from before.

Seungcheol?... Seungcheol had been the one drowning him? Jihoon sat shocked for a moment, staring up at the man, unable to decide whether he was his savior or not.

“Hey, are you okay? You scared the shit out of me.” Seungcheol rested his palm against Woozi’s cheek with worry; it was cold to the touch. “What happened?”

Jihoon opened his mouth to speak, to explain. Obviously someone had put him under a spell. Two spells, if he was correct. Based on all that shit he had expirienced, the first one must have been to paralyze him, and the second did something… else. He wasn’t sure what, but the point was that the magic user probably hadn’t been aiming for him, unless his identity had been blown. He opened his mouth to warn him, but Instead the words twisting around his tongue were not his own.

“I’m fine.”

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow at the trembling boy, whose lips had turned an eerie shade of periwinkle-blue. “Are you sure? Do you remember anything? Like… how the hell you managed to get yourself paralyzed?” He chuckled sarcastically, expecting to get hit, but Woozi’s face remained strangely complacent. The Demon simply shook his head in response.

Okay, so maybe Seungcheol shouldn’t be relieved just yet. He considered interrogating him more, but seeing the poor thing shake like a Chihuahua didn’t exactly fuel his detective instincts. Not to mention it was getting a little uncomfortable to be kneeling in a puddle like this. The water was soaking into his sweatpants.. “Come on, let’s get you dry… and clothed.”

He stood up and shut off the tap, which was spilling all over his nice bathroom floor, not forgetting to pull the drain as well. He offered Woozi a helping hand, which the demon took immediately. Seungcheol felt his heart thump a tad faster as he helped him up and led the demon into his bedroom by the hand, just like Jeonghan had done before.

“Get yourself dry, I’ll go get you a change of clothes.”

Woozi nodded stoically, and Seungcheol offered a worried glance before leaving the room. As he rummaged through the shopping bags, he felt himself growing frustrated. Technically this whole emotionless, submissive façade could just be trauma from being paralyzed for god knows how long, but Seungcheol couldn’t help the nagging feeling in his gut that suggested otherwise. He pulled a light blue sweater and a pair of white sweats, plus a change of fresh underwear out of the bags. Anything Seungcheol deemed dry and warm to make up for his little ice bath trick.

He came back into the room with the clothes bundled in his arms, and kneeled before Woozi. The helpless thing was still shaking with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, his hair dripping wet. Seungcheol smiled endearingly and moved to help him. “You’ll catch a cold if you don’t dry your hair, shorty.”

He ruffled the pink strands with the towel, his brief smile fading when Woozi, well… He did nothing. He just sat there. Usually calling him short would get a swear-filled rant in the least. Seungcheol never thought he would say this, but he kind of missed the foul-spoken, violent demon he’d grown accustomed to.

Seungcheol averted his gaze towards a wall as he dried the rest of the demons body, feeling slightly flushed. There was no way the usual Woozi would ever let him do something like this. When Seungcheol felt satisfied with his work, his eyes flickered down to the soaked boxers, nervously gulping.

“You can change yourself… right?”

Woozi nodded and immediately moved his hands down to remove his wet clothes. He managed to expose a hip-bone before Seungcheol fumbled to stop him; slapping his hands down on the demon's arms in a flustered panic.

“Wait until I turn round first, Jesus!” Seungcheol stood up and whipped around to face a wall. He felt himself flush bright red, his chest humping wildly. This new Woozi was proving to be much more dangerous than the usual one. “Just… tell me when you’re done, okay?”

Woozi removed his damp boxers and changed into the fresh set of clothing set out for him. He felt an uncontrollable fear persist as he did. Not because Seungcheol was acting more perverted than usual... but because he didn’t respond to it. Actually, it was more like he couldn’t.

The demon stood behind Seungcheol and smoothed out his sweater before speaking. “I’m done.”

Seungcheol peaked around to make sure before turning around completely. He was relieved to see that Woozi wasn’t naked, and even more relieved to see that he looked adorable in his new clothing. Seungcheol felt just a little proud knowing he was the one who had picked them out... but he also supposed that someone who looked like Woozi would look cute in anything. He ruffled the demons hair lovingly, which would usually prompt a death glare. Seungcheol frowned when the only response he received was an emotionless gaze.

“Woozi, you have to talk to me. What the hell happened to you?

Something was wrong, something was incredibly terribly wrong with him. Every time Jihoon went to move, or speak, or punch Seungcheol in his dumb perverted face, he felt… scared. Was this the result of the second spell? This dumb state of permanently submissive, and cowardly? It was frustrating, incredibly so, but Jihoon couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it. When he thought about retaliating his mind would shoot back to images of fire against his skin and it made the hair on his neck stand on-end. Instead of doing anything, he simply stared into Seungcheol’s stupid worried face and bit his tongue.

Seungcheol sighed. He supposed he wasn’t going to get anything out of him now. “Don’t worry about it…. I’ll figure something out, I’ll fix you. Just tell me if you remember anything, okay?”

Woozi nodded. He supposed he could promise that, though he doubted he’d be able to say anything if the topic arose again. Seungcheol turned away from the demon and sneezed somewhere in the opposite direction. He cringed. “Ugh. Hey, could you grab me some-?” He sniffed, catching sight of a pink head scampering into the bathroom with lightening speed. “Woozi?”

Woozi returned holding a box of Kleenex, and Seungcheol took a few to clean himself up. He smiled in confusion. “Uh… thanks?” He moved to throw the tissues away and felt the dampness on the knees of his pants creating uncomfortable friction against his skin. He might as well dry himself up; he couldn’t let himself catch a cold now, of all times. “Woozi, can you-“

Seungcheol’s eyes widened when Woozi moved forward before he could finish his sentence, His hands fumbling with the drawstring on his sweats.

“God, no!”

He held the demon back quickly, who looked up at him without so much as a sign of embarrassment.

“I was going to ask you to leave the room so I could change!” Woozi nodded, not a hint of shame on his face, and walked calmly out of the room. Once the door clicked shut, Seungcheol sat on the edge of the bed and tugged at the collar of his tank top, his face flushed.

He needed to fix whatever the hell was going on with Woozi, and fast. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this.

He changed out of his wet clothes and into a simple t-shirt and another pair of clean sweats.. When he walked out of the room, he jumped. Woozi was standing on the other side of the door silently, staring forward. “Jesus, don’t do that!”

Woozi looked up at him curiously. “Don’t do what?”

“Stand there like that! Go sit down, act normal! This whole thing is starting to creep me out.” Woozi nodded and did as he was told, sitting down on the floor. Seungcheol ran a hand down his face in exasperation. “On a chair, or a couch… Please.”

He sighed in relief as Woozi sat down on the couch instead, and moved to join him; falling onto his armchair in exhaustion. This behavior… it couldn’t be another black magic spell, could it? Obviously it was possible that Woozi was simply traumatized, and he would get better with time, but the possibility of a curse was way too possible for Seungcheol to ignore.

Hell, what problem these days didn’t relate to magic?

Seungcheol looked to Woozi with a determined expression. He should confirm it first, just to make sure. Woozi’s personality seemed to have taken a complete 180 degree turn since the last time he talked to him. He was emotionless, passive, and seemed to follow orders well… “Hey Woozi, come here.”

Woozi stood from where he was sitting and came towards Seungcheol, standing just in front of him.

“Uh… jump three times” Woozi began to jump as he was told, his face completely stoic, and Seungcheol almost chuckled at the sight... but, now was not a laughing matter.

Okay, so he seemed to do everything he was told… but before, he didn’t really seem willing to talk. Could he only follow physical instructions? “Woozi, are you under a spell?”

Jihoon felt his heart thudding in his chest. Every ounce of him wanted to scream yes, but instead, his worthless fucking meat-suit stood and did absolutely nothing. What was the use of having a mouth when he couldn’t use it to say anything of importance?

Okay so it’s obvious he isn’t going to answer anything about what was happening to himself now, but maybe that was just an exception. What was something he could ask, which Woozi would refuse to answer with every ounce of his tiny demon body in regular situations? He was an impersonal little shit, and he didn’t seem to be too fond of talking about himself unless it was in exchange for food so… maybe something about his family? He had been curious about them anyway, so this was a good chance. “So Woozi, tell me… Uh, what does your dad look like? He was a naga-something or another- can you explain it a bit?”

Oh please, really Seungcheol? Jihoon willed his useless arms to move and strangle the human, but a pounding fear rattled in his brain and his knees began to shake at the thought. Instead he swallowed his pride and began to explain. Seungcheol could have asked him anything, so why the hell did he have to bring up his family?

“My father is a rare mix of demons. Naga’s are a category of demon species involving any mix involving reptilian characteristics. The lamia- one of the most popular breeds- are a mix that is generally half human traits and half snake. On the other hand, a Kasha is an ancient breed of demon, popularly characterized as a giant flaming feline. Because of the animalistic tendencies of the two breeds it is extremely rare for there to be a mix of them. Snakes and Cats just generally don’t mate. My grandparents were a rare exception to this rule, though. My father was born a perfect split between the two, and has the upper body of a flaming black cat, and the lower body of a rattle snake. His tail is long and winding, and his scales are various shades of browns and reds tattering off into a black and white rattled tip. The upper half of his tail fades out as the scales and rough skin are replaced with long ebony fur. His eyes are red and gold and his flames surround the area around his face like a lions mane. For the sake of practicality, he uses his magic and camouflage ability to appear partially human most of the time, though.”

Seungcheol gulped, looking the pink haired demon up-and-down. This little thing came from the genes of a monster like that? He hadn’t really expected that level of detail, and at this point he was praying silently that father dearest didn’t pay them a visit any time soon. Obviously his suspicions were confirmed, but Seungcheol felt his curiosity growing by the second. It that’s what his dad was like, what the hell did his mother look like? “What about your mom?”

Jihoon felt his eye twitch, but he knew trying to fight this was useless. It was ironic; he really was just a slave now, wasn’t he? “My mother is the result of a Succubus crossed with a necromancer. Traditionally, Succubus’s are to appear fully human, with the exception of a trademark demonic trait such as horns or a tail. My mother is genetically designed to fit human standards of beautiful. She’s thin and tall, with long slender limbs, graceful and demure. Her lips are full, her nose is pointed, and her eyes are large and bright. Her hair is long and black, a bit wavy. Necromancers, on the other hand, don’t have a set appearance, but pure necromancers are rumored to be completely skeleton. In order her to be part necromancer, she is required to be partially dead. Her partial deadness gives her the ability to control the souls of the damned like Necromancers are known for. Because of this, her entire chest cavity is rotted. She has little skin and muscled in her upper torso, and her bones are the only thing that keeps her organs from floating out of the space within her chest. There are some other small areas where the rot of her necrobiosis is visible, but she covers it all up with a cloak so it’s hardly noticeable. She also has horns much like my own, just a lot taller.”

Seungcheol couldn’t decide whether to find her attractive or monstrous, but either way he was terrified. His opinion about the family reunion still stood strong... And he still couldn’t believe that Woozi was related to either of them. “Okay, that’s enough.”

So now he knew for sure that this couldn’t just be some post-paralysis trauma. The only problem now was figuring out what spell had been used against him; and whether or not that spell could be reversed. Seungcheol wasn’t sure what he was going to do if the spell turned out to be permanent, but that was a worry for another day.

“Sit down and wait here.” He patted Woozi on the shoulder and smiled encouragingly; the demon simply nodded in response. He might as well test out his latest method of decoding spells again. He’d just have to backtrack.

Seungcheol took the spell book from his room and brought it back into the living room, sitting back down in his armchair. Woozi had followed his order, and was now sitting. Thankfully not on the floor, this time. The symptoms this time around were pretty straight forward. Suddenly good at following orders, complete change in personality, submissive behavior, and completely boring. He read through the spells slowly, reading though them with a concentrated expression.

His studying came to halt when the doorbell rang.

Seungcheol panicked a bit, throwing the book down on his chair as he stood up. He looked towards the door, and then back to his illegal demon with a frown.

Leaning down and placing a hand on Woozi’s shoulder, Seungcheol spoke seriously. “Listen, Woozi. Focus. Just because you’re not yourself right now doesn’t mean you’re not still very much illegal, and very much a secret. Go into my room and stay there unless I say otherwise, okay? Nobody can know that I’m hiding a demon in my house.”

“Okay.”

Without another word, Woozi stood up, and shut himself away in Seungcheol’s room.

He took a deep breath to compose himself before opening the door, and attempted to smile casually at the sight of his daily dose of sunshine, standing on his door-step.

“Hey, Coups!” Seokmin smiled widely from behind a stack of pizza boxes”

“Oh, Seokmin.” He chucked lightly, relieved to see that it wasn’t the police. “What are you doing here?”

With that, Seokmin’s smile dropped in disappointment. “Huh, are you serious? The game came out today, Coups! You know, freeskate 6? We’ve been waiting for it to be released forever, and you said that when it did we’d hang out and play.” The boy struggled with his pizza boxes and pulled a game case out of his back pocket. “Did you really forget?”

“No! Okay maybe… but, uh..” God Seungcheol really needed to go see a doctor about his forgetfulness. Though he supposed having to deal with the shit he’d gone through the past couple of days would make anyone a little bit amnesiac. He considered turning Seokmin away, knowing fully well that inviting anyone in at this point in time wouldn’t be the best idea... But seeing Seokmin with any expression that wasn’t 100% happy was hard, plus he had really been looking forward to trying out that game.

He sighed, moving to the side. “Come in, let’s set this puppy up.”

Seokmin beamed and made his way into the living room to set his pizza boxes down, before getting straight to work on setting up the game. Seungcheol stumbled forwards at the sight of his black magic book lying blatantly open on his armchair, and panicked to hide it before Seokmin could turn around. He managed to shove it under the couch just in time.

“Do you want to be first player or second player?”

“Doesn’t matter to me.” He faked a casual look and propped his leg over the coffee table.

Seokmin laughed. “Second player it is, then.”

Seungcheol took the controller offered to him and sat back in his chair, not forgetting to swipe a piece of pizza as well.

The game started casually with a little bit of dialogue back-story, giving them the chance to talk before things got heated. Seokmin cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking up.

“So, Seungcheol… what’s been up with you lately? You seem distant.”

Seungcheol swallowed. “Nothing, I’m good. Just a little stressed lately, don’t worry about it.”

“Is it school, or family? You know that if you’re ever having trouble with school you can tell me. I’m happy to tutor you.”

“Thanks Seokmin, but it’s okay. I’m the hyung, you shouldn’t be trying to take care of me like this.”

He chuckled, eyes glued on the screen with a solemn expression. “Yeah I guess so…” Seungcheol paid his attention back on the dialogue for a moment. “By the way, are you feeling better?”

“Huh?”

“You seemed really sick the past couple days. Like not even normal sick, too. You looked like you had lost every ounce of blood in your body, seriously, and you kept coughing up a storm during class. What the hell happened?”

Seungcheol bit his cheek nervously. “I just strained myself too much, I guess… I had an accident while doing some homework and ended up a bit sickly because of it. It’s nothing to worry about, though. Jeonghan’s healing magic is no joke; I’m perfectly healthy again.” Seungcheol posed and showed off his biceps for emphasis.

 Seokmin chuckled. “As long as you’re sure you’re fine… everyone’s been really worried.”

“tssk… tell them to stop worrying. I’m an old man, I can take care of myself.”

The both of them laughed, and Seungcheol felt the stress of today seeping away. Leave it up to Seokmin to make him feel relaxed when his entire life was turning to shit.

Their conversation’s quickly escalated into cursed yelling as the game progressed. About 10 minutes in, Seungcheol pretty much felt ready to commit a murder. Anyone that ever said Video games didn’t make people feel violent had obviously never played freeskate 6.

“Ah, that was definitely cheating!”

“It’s not cheating if it’s a feature in the game, idiot!”

Seungcheol’s body swayed violently in whatever direction his character was going in, as if it would help him go faster. He was nearly falling off his chair in an attempt to catch up to Seokmin’s character at this point, and the other laughed at his unnecessary enthusiasm. He stayed far ahead with ease.

“Ah damn it, come over here you bastard!”

Jihoon was standing against the door, listening, and he heard those words all too clearly. That wasn’t an order meant for him, right? Seungcheol wasn’t asking him to come. Despite that his skin felt hot and he sweated nervously. He couldn’t just ignore the fact that he heard that, but…

Seungcheol also had said that nobody could know he was a demon! So that should counter the order to come over there, right?

He moved over to Seungcheol’s drawer despite himself, and pulled out a large beanie. He used it to cover up his horns, which were thankfully small enough to not make a very obvious bump in the head-wear. Then he took his tail with a mind of its own in hand, and shoved it into the waist-band of his sweat pants. The tail curled around his leg instinctively and Jihoon tightened the drawstring of his pants for good measure. With that, he had no real reason to say no to Seungcheol. The thought of it made his legs quake.

He opened the door and walked out into the living room, watching as Seungcheol’s guest eyed him with a surprised expression.

Seungcheol grinned as he finally managed to catch up the Seokmin, cheering to himself. Until he realized that the other had stopped playing altogether, and looked over to him for answers. Seokmin’s eyes were wide.

“C-coups… you didn’t tell me you had a guest over…”

“Huh, what do you-“ Oh…. Seungcheol followed Seokmin’s gaze and copied his expression as he spotted Woozi standing innocently off to the side. “Oh that.. that’s, I mean…”

Seungcheol stuttered over his words, unable to find the right way to explain, and Seokmin noticed his suddenly nervous behavior with an expression he couldn’t identify.

He was so totally, completely, and utterly screwed.


End file.
